Palodine - Garden of Deceit

  by Anthony Middleton

published: 5 / 9 / 2008

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Review

Drenched in layered, lurking guitars and biblical allusions, 'Garden of Deceit'could only have been made in America and maintained its integrity. Each song seems to be darker, more full of impending doom than the last. No quarter is given to humour; very little to optimism or hope. The songs have a lot of space, the superb guitars echo and reverberate creating a sparse landscape. Into this comes the warm, soulful voice of Katrina Whitney, delivering a desolate of harm and betrayal. The lyrics, printed in full on the CD cover, are obscure (for me anyway) visions of that America we get a lot of these days: bleak landscapes, untold crimes lurking beneath the surface of a corrupt, religion obsessed society. A world of badlands and snake healers, that, outside East Anglia, we just do not have in Britain. In case we haven’t got the message, the CD is decorated with pictures of serpents, apples and wounded animals. All very gothic, with a small g. Sometimes having lyrics printed makes me consider their quality more than I would otherwise. These appear to be full of meaning and depth, throwing references to the scriptures about. Few lyrics stand up to to reading without the context of their music and these are not different. But like all the best art, meaning is slightly beyond our grasp while the emotional intent is clear. Whitney has that lilting timbre to her voice that is a vocal equivalent to the fine bluesy/country guitar work of Palodine’s other member, Michael Aryn. A multi -instrumentalist, Michael Aryn creates a sparsely powerful backdrop to Whitney’s disturbed words with banjos, Dobro and Omnichord, as well as more normal guitar. Palodine hail from the Pacific Northwest and 'Garden of Deceit' could be seen as an aural reflection on that environment: Bleak yet monumental; beautiful but dangerous. The songs surge between repressed foreboding danger and explosions of anger. 'Sweet Mouth, Black Heart', with Whitney’s distorted voice duelling with a crashing guitar is one of the album’s highlights. It is, however, an album that is very much a whole and rewards a full listening rather than dipping in and out of. The final number, 'Magdalane', is a beautiful, restrained duet between Whitney and Aryn’s resonating guitar. There is a definite pattern to the songs, which is not to say they are too similar, but nor are there sudden changes in theme or style. Palodine, have decided what they want to do and do it with style.

Track Listing:-

1 Redwinged Blackbird
2 Scar
3 Sweet Mouth, Black Heart
4 Woman of Cain
5 Sorrow Has Opened Our Eyes
6 A Dozen Stones
7 Revelations
8 Ways to Drown
9 Restored
10 Magdalene