Sometimes when I'm listening to a CD, what's going on in the
background is so imposing that it creeps into the music. Such is the
case with a massively hyped snowstorm. When I first started listening
to Looks at the Bird, the new disc from Brokeback, the
snowstorm that blanketed the East Coast over Presidents' Day weekend
blew into the hushed and rhythmic music. But the two fit nicely
together. I listened on Sunday, while driving from Philadelphia to
New York. We'd cut our long weekend short, and were riding the first
wave of the storm to Brooklyn. The near white-out conditions and the
white flakes rushing at our windshield complemented the music, which
was sometimes slow and deep and sometimes flitted by. The next day,
safely home and in the middle of the storm, I took a walk. I could
hear Brokeback in the whispering beat of snowflakes hitting my
jacket, in the soft squeak of my shoes crunching the powdery snow and
in the sliding shuffle of shovels in the distance. Then on the third
day, after the snow stopped and the sky lightened a little bit, so
did the music. It didn't sound so hushed anymore. I could hear the
drums and the fluttering wind instruments.
I always thought Tortoise, the band bass player Douglas McCombs
normally spends his time with, made a shape-shifting music —
sometimes sounding like jazz, sometimes like rock and sometimes a
little electronic. Brokeback — McCombs and bassist Noel
Kuppersmith from The Chicago Underground Orchestra, along with the
late Mary Hansen from Stereolab on a few tracks — also move
between genres and can shift moods along with the listener. Other
musicians that contributed to the disc include John McEntire, Chad
Taylor, Aki Tsuyuko and Stereolab's other vocalist, Laetitia Sadier.
In the world of Tortoise and their label Thrill Jockey, these
musicians are constantly shifting in and out of bands: Eleventh Dream
Day, Tortoise, Isotope 217, the Sea and Cake, and the Chicago
Underground Duo/Trio/Orchestra.
One of the first things that struck me about Looks at the Bird
is the silence — or the space between the notes, especially in
the opening track. This isn't music about angst or ego, hooks or
licks, or lyrics we've heard before. McCombs and Co. are in no rush
to lure the listener. "From the Black Current," the opener, consists
of only McCombs on his bass 6 and Kuppersmith on a double bass. But
the vibrations of the strings are like extra instruments, at first
warming up in the orchestra pit and then humming along with the
music. McCombs plucks one heavy string at a time, often with a pause
in between. That space between creates a quiet tension — similar
to the tension one might feel driving 20 mph behind a team of five
snowplows on the New Jersey Turnpike.
The third track has the odd title "Name's Winston, Friends Call Me
James." It's one of the three on the disc that feature Mary Hansen,
and may be one of her last recordings: She was killed in a bicycle
accident in London in December. Hansen had a special ability to use
her voice not just for transmitting lyrics, but as an instrument. She
often sings nonsensical syllables, letting her voice weave in and out
of the music rather than telling a story. She does just that on
"Name's Winston." The song opens with single low notes played on
McCombs's bass 6; then Hansen's voice joins in and counters the low
sounds. Before long, Sadier joins in as well. Their mouths don't even
move enough to make a consonant sound until well into the song. For
the most part it's "ooohs" and "aaaahs." In the end they get busy
with some "naaneee naaaneee naaaneees."
Brokeback cover a Tortoise song, "The Suspension Bridge at Iguazu
Falls," on the disc. Both versions are very layered, with a lot of
percussion. It's actually hard to say which sounds better. Brokeback
can create a world of texture down in the low ends of the music. In
their version of the song, the drums at the start are tinny, almost
like "The March of the Wooden Soldiers, " then the basses come in,
one deeply driving the music and the other swirling and supporting.
It's one of the most layered-sounding songs on the disc. Rock music
is built around the guitar, but it takes a pared-down delivery (and
some clever music geeks) to show what strings are really capable of.
The temperatures are rising every day in New York. The snow is
turning to slush, then disappearing. As I shed layers, my Brokeback
disc seems to keep gaining them.
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