Search - Pilot Ships :: Limits of Painting & Poetry

Defying the laws of music

Jairus Grove | Chicago, Illinois USA | 12/10/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A band once accused by the Austin Chronicle of sounding "doggedly Indie" has answered with a grandeur that will not be forgotten. This album captures an eerie beauty in an anesthetized music market of boy bands and kiddy porn stars that have all but extinguished what it is to be human. The haunting melodies of the pilot ships fade in and out of a landscape of musical collage. More traditional guitar and piano work are woven into an artistic ensemble of trauma and pain that is as startling as it is comforting. The tonal explorations of composer Brian McBride also of Stars of the Lid, adds something that is often missing from new genres of ambient rock, an organic life so textured that it envelopes the chord progressions and lyrics producing a continuity between songs that makes this an album and not just a collection of songs. Upon this sonic foundation the ensemble of voices (Cheree Jetton, Chris Linnen, Michael Linnen, Brian McBride) produce an effect which is disarming, a depth of experience that suggests a great film that has never been written but plays out in between the lines of their lyric and graceful prose. Track 3, performed vocally by Chris Linnen, lends itself to what makes pop music powerful, identification, but refuses to give into the simple hooks or refrains that sap the life out of the everyday of musical experience. The ethereal voice of Cheree Jetton adds beauty to the melodies that vanish and reappear, guiding the direction of the album like a siren call. If you put this album on repeat, the songs become seamless and the repetition imperceptible. Each revisiting of this album reveals new layers of sound. At the limits of painting and poetry, this cast of truly remarkable musicians (better read artists) reinvents the sublime.Jairus Grove, graduate student at The University of Chicago"