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Waxed - Record Review from Issue #61 Jan-Feb 2006

Pinetop Seven

The Night's Bloom (Barbary Coast / Empyrean)

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Bands that consider themselves “cinematic” usually just mean this: We use strings. Indeed, strings swell, signaling epic drama on the fifth album by Chicago’s Pinetop Seven. The song “A Mouthful Of Expensive Teeth” cascades mightily with its built-in chamber orchestra as leader Darren Richard bellows, “Oh, do we see ourselves?” This is significant stuff…well, maybe not. Many of these truly elegant songs do not seem to draw us in as they intend; instead their gauzy atmosphere is a cloak of mush. Since Pinetop Seven is a rotating collective of musicians, their very bulk can often be a tripwire. Which isn’t the case when Richard aims for more conventional fare, including “Born Among The Born Again”, on which a toy piano competes with a banjo, and “June”, on which bones rattle against creep-out lyrics (“Won’t tell you what we did/Don’t know the name for it”). Haunting and playful, these are songs that spring to life like no others, especially here.

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Originally Featured in Issue #61 Jan-Feb 2006

Cover of Issue #61 Jan-Feb 2006

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More articles from this issue:

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