Search - Cordelia's Dad :: What It Is

Odd, eclectic, jagged, awesome

Ethan Hein | New York, NY USA | 11/22/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Cordelia's Dad is one of my favorite bands on earth, and I've been hoping this thing would get released eventually. I'm not clear on the reasons for the long delay between its recording and release; I'm just relieved that it made it into my hands. I think this album does an admirable job of showcasing the band's many strengths and many oddities; for me, those two are usually one and the same thing. On the one hand, you have Cordelia's Dad, interpreters of traditional American music, using raw and stripped-down acoustic arrangements and low-key, somber affect. On the other hand, you have Cordelia's Dad, punk and hard rock band, with traditional music as one influence among many, and with material ranging from gentle ballads to shrieking walls of feedback. That's a broad range of sound, and it's too broad a range for a lot of listeners. But if you like your music challenging, unpredictable and mongrelized, this is terrific stuff. On the accessible, first-listen side, there's Song Of The Heads, which would be the band's big pop single if there were any justice in this world, and Rock Me would be the b-side. Then there's the tougher stuff - the asymmetrical, lurching Brother Judson, the jagged and mysterious Little Speckled Egg, the traditional hymn aptly named Despair. This is the stuff that stays with you and bothers you as you walk around trying to hum it, before you put it back on a week later and realize, wow, holy mackerel, this is intense and amazing. Finally, there's the really far out material - the noise collage Hammer, for instance, which is offputting and baffling and then after five or six listens suddenly clicks into place and makes more sense than anything else on the record. Or maybe that's just me. If you're even reading this review, you've presumably heard the band before and are debating whether you'll like something that mixes the acoustic and electric stuff so freely. Maybe you loved Spine and Comet, and want more along those lines. Maybe you dug the first record and Road Kill and want more of that. For both groups, I'll just say, pick this one up; you might hate it on one or two listens, but it'll sneak right in amongst you. Hey, and check out Tim's solo album while you're here, it's a doozy. And to Tim, Peter and Cath, if you're reading this, I know you all live in different states now and Peter's in law school, but please, for the sake of the diehard fans, get together over the summer, lay down some more tracks. I miss hearing you guys perform and am always eager to hear what's cooking in your fertile musical imaginations."