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Boduf Songs, "How Shadows Chase the Balance"
With Mathew Sweet's third release for Kranky, he secures himself as the arch-mage of death soaked acoustica. Again employing mostly his guitar and breathy vocal, while momentarily reaching for further instrumentation, this album is less hidden-away sounding than previous Boduf Songs recordings. It is, however, still imbued with inimitable sense of intimateness, darkness, and magic.
"All of my heroes died the same day. All of them fallen away." Thus begins the what could have easily been one of the most depressing records of the year. There is however a sense of power and dare I say hope here that I did not find on Mat Sweet's previous releases. I still worry that once winter arrives, this record might chance putting me into some sort of foul midday slumber. But alas, it is the beginning of fall and for this recording there isn't a better time for it to emerge. The artwork on this release is a bit schizophrenic but will cue in any unassuming listener as to what they are in for. Dark, minimal graphic design work adorns the cover in true Kranky aesthetic. Inside: an F.W. Murnau still and a reversed black and white image of a line drawing titled "The Sleeper" features ghostly figures swirling about a woman asleep in her bed. The back cover contains a classic Beksinski painting of a decrepit and imposing pillar in the midst of a graveyard; doomy.
To the impatient ear, How Shadows Chase the Balance might seem like simply more of the same, but Sweet has given us a record of significant improvement. "Things Not to Be Done on the Sabbath" features the welcome addition of picked and strummed banjo to the mix. The vocals are haunting, yet full of strength and confidence in their harmonies. I have no complaints about the inclusion of more familiar territory like "I Can't See a Thing in Here," executed with slowly plucked guitar and steady vocal mantrams. It is the songs like this where Sweet is allowed to show of his amazing ability to mix a truly delicate sound.
The majority of the following songs each have their own anomaly: "Quite When Group" features a cutting 4/4 snare-heavy beat; "A Spirit Harness" ends with piano accompaniment; "Found on the Bodies of Fallen Whales" begins with plodding electric bass, guitar, and atmospherics that would not sound out of place on a Labradford record; and the records closer, "Last Glimmer on a Hill at Dusk," will not pull anyone further down into the darkness Sweet erects around his albums, with its strummed banjo and relatively upbeat pace. This is a record filled with obscurity, secrecy, and wickedness; but it seems Sweet may have something even more in mind and in store.
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