Editorial Reviews Music Review:
Music Review
Bach: Sacred Cantatas 4 [Box set]
Music: Marches Jigs Strathspeys & Reels
Blue Faced Sessions V.1 [Import]
Breathe [CD-single] [Explicit Lyrics] [Import]
B.L.T./Truce [Original recording remastered] [Import]
Amazon.com
Pared down to a trio following the departure of guitarist Joel R.L. Phelps, Silkworm traded the scrabbling, Anglophilic angularity that marked their first few discs for an airier, high-lonesome sound that ultimately proves far more rewarding. Much of the impact comes from the sharper focus put on the spatially challenging guitar attack of Andy Cohen, whose eloquent, barely-in-control solos on "Drag the River" and "Slow Hands" hark back to the headiest days of Television (or the Dream Syndicate, at least). Despite the dynamic ampage, however, Firewater is a decidedly melancholy brew, with both Cohen and bassist Tim Midgett contributing laments that waft gracefully through air that's tinged with ether and thick with emotion. --David Sprague