Search - Good Listeners :: Crane Point Lodge

Can't believe there are no reviews on this...

Ryan Hunt | 01/30/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Yet again, more beautiful music from this group, and yet again another great creative concept behind the music. The songs here are just as appealing and as good as those on Ojai (get this album too). Again, the music reminds me at times of The Beatles, but this time around I don't hear as many touches of the other bands that came to mind when listening to Ojai the first time (Radiohead, Beck, Coldplay). Instead, I hear more of a band that is growing and perfecting their craft. To those who haven't heard this band- this album is a great collection of indie rock/pop/good listening music for good listeners.



As mentioned in my review of Ojai, this album was, at least, in-part inspired by a fear of the idea behind the movie "The Shining"- the idea of being cooped up in an isolated place for a period of time with little/no contact with the "real world".



I'll let the album note elaborate:



Less than a year after recording our beloved album Ojai, the two of us found ourselves holed up in a cold and desolate area deep in the Adirondack Mountains. The Gold Brothers offered us their family's lodge on Crane Point of Blue Mountain Lake, New York. For the month of April we engaged in a grueling battle between multiple forces; the love of music, the fear of ghosts and our passion to outdo Ojai (what was now to be the antithesis of this experience). After a horrifying first night where unexplainable supernatural episodes riddled our psyches, we surrendered in an alliance with Cary, the beheaded Wapiti lurking over the fireplace and recorded the opening song, Isolation Booth. For the next 30 days we struggled to keep on task, experiencing deceiving highs and deflating lows. We cooked most of our own meals as the 10-mile journey to the small town of Long Lake yielded off-season offerings of greasy food and sobering loneliness. When it snowed, we felt the childlike excitement of school being canceled. When it rained, we remembered our hometown of Portland, Oregon and the drag that infused melancholy into song. When it was sunny we canoed and marveled at how beautiful this monster of a place was. Just like this drastic contrast, so was the music we recorded. On day 30, the last of this journey, we played Scrabble and listened to the songs, rearranging the order until we felt we had it right. We traveled back to Los Angeles and awoke from the spell of Crane Point Lodge to an uncomfortable reality scored by the music we had recorded. We sat on the album, chins on fists, and thought in circles. The number of days in 2006 dwindled to single digits and so did our reasons to keep this from you.





I can't believe no one has commented on either of the 2 releases from this group on here. It's great stuff with great ideas behind it all. Also as mentioned in my review for Ojai- for the new album- the band is traveling to 12 states and writing and recording a song in each state. I only wish I knew these guys so I could ask if I could tag along."