Silt - Cat's Peak
by Anthony Middleton
published: 10 / 12 / 2008
Label:
Fire Records
Format: CD
intro
Rough-edged and leftfield alt.country/avant folk on erratic debut album from Canadian trio, the Silt
The last thing you really expect an alt. country/avant folk album to open with is a deep, dirty funk number. Maybe that’s what makes it alt.. While the groovy bass on 'Come Back to the Willow', may be straight from Detroit, the lyrics are all country pastoral and yearning for the purity of nature. Elsewhere on the Silt’s debut, 'Cat’s Peak', singer Ryan Driver lurches towards a knowing Good Ol’ Boy shitkicking performance, but here he attempts, and largely succeeds, to get a smoother soul voicing, with the help of warm harmonies. This is a contrast to the rest of the album. The next number 'The Twig' is just as bucolic in theme, but the deliver is more country or folk with Driver delivering a more dissonant vocal. This is a motif on the album, namely singing which occasionally makes me think I should have been a pop star after all. The title track (which refers to a mountain top rather than a moggie’s hairline) is a case in point, starting out as a laid back, expertly performed country ballad. Ryan along with the backing vocalists, however, head towards an octave that was never intended for grown, fully functioning men to explore. As with many things like this, it works and is thought provoking, but you are asking a lot of listeners not to wince at every broken missed note. Of course, a vocal with a few frayed edges is wonderful and when it works it’s better than a pitch perfect performance any day – you can get that from any X-Factor contestant. Any young Canadian with guitar in hand and mother nature on his conscience, must have the spectre of Neil Young hovering somewhere over them. This influence is obvious on the Toronto based threesome, as is the other great Canadian proponent of country rock, The Band. On 'Sunlit Cloud', the grinding arpeggiated guitar and the strained, slightly desperate vocals sound enough like something from 'Live Rust' without being derivative. This influence is strong elsewhere, particularly the lushly melodic 'Two Eyes', which has enough rough edges and leftfield effects to keep it distinctive and unsettling. 'Cat’s Peak' is a bit of stop start affair. They accelerate away along a rough, pothole strewn back lane, everything beginning to get out of control, not least the singing. Then someone slams the brake on. We calm down and get something like 'Beautiful Shell', a spare, vulnerable track with a simple acoustic accompaniment and a percussion that sounds like someone shifting furniture around upstairs. Then, the old jalopy is floored again and we head off into 'Twilight in the Morning', a ersatz waltz, with a near spoken, droning vocal.
Track Listing:-
1 Come back To The Willow2 No Twig
3 Feathershine
4 Cat's Peak
5 Sunlit Cloud
6 Two Eyes
7 Taking A Walk
8 Cocoon
9 Beautiful Shell
10 Twilight In The Morning
11 Lit
12 Ears On The Rail
13 Untitled (Hidden Track)
Label Links:-
https://twitter.com/firerecordingshttps://www.facebook.com/Firerecords
http://www.firerecords.com/
https://firerecords.bandcamp.com/
https://instagram.com/fire_records/
https://www.youtube.com/user/FirerecordsUK
most viewed articles
current edition
Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies - Sala Apolo, Barcelona, 29/11/2023 and La Paqui, Madrid, 30/11/2023Anthony Phillips - Interview
Difford and Tilbrook - Difford and Tilbrook
Rain Parade - Interview
Oldfield Youth Club - Interview
Autumn 1904 - Interview
Shaw's Trailer Park - Interview
Cafe No. 9, Sheffield and Grass Roots Venues - Comment
Pete Berwick - ‘Too Wild to Tame’: The story of the Boyzz:
Chris Hludzik - Vinyl Stories
most viewed reviews
current edition
Marika Hackman - Big SighSerious Sam Barrett - A Drop of the Morning Dew
Rod Stewart and Jools Holland - Swing Fever
Loves - True Love: The Most of The Loves
Ian M Bailey - We Live in Strange Times
Paul McCartney and Wings - Band on the Run
Autumn 1904 - Tales of Innocence
Roberta Flack - Lost Takes
Banter - Heroes
Posey Hill - No Clear Place to Fall
Pennyblackmusic Regular Contributors
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart