Search - Steve Von Till :: As the Crow Flies

A Somewhat Awkward Step Forward

Jesse Melat | Cleveland | 07/18/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"If I were to give a name to Steve Von Till has crafted here, if would be "ambient folk". Minimalistic, acoustic guitar with various electronic treatments and noises in the background. Von Till has made an original, somber and notable album. The problem with it is that only about half of the tracks are strong(3, 5 and 7 are classics, in my estimation) while the rest just have nothing with which to distinguish themselves from each other. They simply take the doctrine of minimalism too far, repeating over and over. This is not to say that tracks like "Midheaven" and "Stained Glass" are complete throwaways; they do achieve the unique emotional territory of brooding observance that the rest of the album does, just not quite as well. Von Till's voice on As the Crow Flies does indeed sound very much like Swans' lead singer Micheal Gira, as was previously noted by another reviewer. There is a certain resemblence of this music to the proto-goth band's more acoustic moments, but Vont Till's compositions seem far more removed from reality and less angst-ridden. His lyrics are well written and effective for the music he is playing, but his vocals have a sense of awkwardness in some places, particularly "Midheaven", where the low gravelly tinch in his voice sounds anything if not forced. This is not a song-ruining element by any means, merely one of many flaws that contributes to the loss of two stars in my rating. It's stronger points border on the tear-inducing, and its weaker ones just make you want to hit the skip button halfway through. Hopefully with his next solo release(if he plans on doing one) he will have these kinks ironed out and produce something that is homogenous in its haunting, subdued emotivity."