Search - Randy Kaplan :: Miraculous Dissolving Cures

"Miraculous Dissolving Cures" (2001) - From the first strains of the echoing warped guitar riff of "Crushed Berries" to the slow fade to black of "Unpaid Bills" this album takes us on a journey from the recesses of South America to the expanses of Alaska. Most of the characters in this record have "one foot out of this dirty world." Yet they won't give up, realizing that "there's always more innocence left to lose." The collection of threnodies and noiresque tales finds Kaplan battling the forces of love and loss as well as the hypocrisy of both the secular and religious worlds. In "Crushed Berries" the narrator laments that his "friends will save a fly from a spiderweb but then they'll order rack of lamb or baby back ribs." In "Volunteers" the ghost of Job's wife rails against G-d for letting her children die "because of some bet, some stupid bet." "Cutty Reel" is the dreamscape of a jilted degenerate trying to win back his beloved using voodoo and an elaborate series of disguises. Musically, the record has great range: quasi-latin beats, hints of techno, blues-laced guitar lines, complex harmonies, and hypnotic mixes of synthesizers, spanish guitars, organs, and more. The rich production of the album is suspended only for the stark and introspective ballad "Certainly Della", whose melody rides above a lone guitar and a subtle keyboard line. As an added bonus, there's a full-color 12-page c.d. booklet featuring abstract paintings, collages, photographs, and lyrics.