Arbouretum - Let It All In

by Adrian P

published: 17 / 3 / 2020

Label: Thrill Jockey
Format: CD

Arbouretum return with one of their most sturdy official albums so far, spreading themselves out widely whilst remaining solidly grounded

Review

It’s slightly staggering to realise that Baltimore’s Arbouretum have been in operation for around eighteen years now. Led by the stern yet heartfelt presence of David Heumann over various line-ups, the band have steadily evolved from being a somewhat ascetic answer to ‘Viva Last Blues’-era Palace Music to a more expansive enterprise, finding earthier furrows in the heavy-psych world and stonier shores in the folk-rock realms along the way. Their first full album since 2017’s eclectically sprawling ‘Song of the Rose’ long-player sustains these sonic patterns whilst also juxtaposing wider-reaching panoramas with more coiled tautness. Things begin quite beguilingly through the six and half minutes of ‘How Deep It Goes’, setting the scene with Real Estate-like chiming toughened-up by passages of spectral synths and twinning Television guitars. Thereafter, proceedings weave between Richard Thompson-era Fairport Convention-isms (‘A Prism In Reverse’), The Grateful Dead’s most Americana-marinated moods (‘No Sanctuary Blues’), wordless kosmische elegance (‘Night Theme’), Crazy Horse churning and prowling (‘Headwaters II’), lilting yet hirsute late-period Byrds cantering (‘Buffeted By Wind’), colossal Velvet Underground-goes-motorik majesty (the near-twelve-minute title-track) and the looser honky-tonking ends of early-70s Rolling Stones (‘High Water Song’). Assembled with a redemptive range of communally-crafted arrangements, that bely any concerns about running out of steam after nearly two decades on the clock, this could be considered one of Arbouretum’s strongest and most consistent collections to date.