You might not be familiar with singer-songwriter Steve Von Till’s band, the post-apocalyptic metal outfit Neurosis, or their more experimental offshoot, Tribes Of Neurot, but no matter: It’s safe to say that Von Till’s second solo outing, If I Should Fall To The Field, bears little relation to either of them.
A spartan, gorgeous and unrelentingly somber folk album that relies mostly upon banjo, acoustic guitar and the occasional Hammond organ to make its point, Field bears more resemblance to Mark Lanegan (if he were even more depressed) than, say, Tool, to whom the various Neuroses have often been compared.
Von Till, a Bay Area second-grade teacher with a marked vocal similarity to the comparatively peppy Joe Henry, is an unimpeachable songwriter with a remarkable ability to set — if not necessarily vary — a mood. Field collates original songs, obscure folk standards and a cover of Neil Young’s “Running Dry”, giving them all the same basic treatment, converting them into muted Gothic tone poems of impressive creepiness and dread.
As an endpiece, a 40-year-old reel-to-reel spoken-word recording by Von Till’s grandfather, set to droning guitar accompaniment, fits in nicely; like everything else here, it’s impeccably well-crafted, but not a whole lot of fun.
