It all sounds impossibly idyllic. Matt “MV” Valentine and Erika “EE” Elder camp out in their double-wide trailer situated deep in the Vermont woods, set up microphones and re-string the bantar, and issue forth the call for other like-minded weirdos to join them in the almighty jam, with the resulting noise released as album after album of granola-crunching freakout-sound. But it seems like it’s all indeed happening: On Drone Trailer, their DiCristina debut and something like 30th official release overall, MV & EE are at it again, mixing in lonely harmonica-guided folk with buzzing, otherwordly screeches, drones, and washes of white, grey, and pink noise.
Opener “Anyway” blasts off in particularly violent fashion, with an overdriven and stoned Crazy Horse vibe carried over from previous outings Green Blues and Gettin’ Gone (both released on Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace! label), but finding the group’s playing further out and more aggressive than either. Joined on this release by The Golden Road -- consisting of Doc Dunn on guitars and pedal steel, Mike Smith on bass and Fender Rhodes, and drummer James Anderson -- the song is a stomping, wah-wah-heavy excursion, colored by searing feedback and Smith’s bell-like Rhodes playing, which closes the song beautifully after an exasperated electric guitar pileup drops out. The song is pure joy, a solid few minutes of unrestrained rock ‘n’ roll. It’s also, sadly, the only time the album explores such boisterous material.
Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. MV & EE do mellow well, never abandoning the avant-garde techniques that separate even their quieter material from traditional jam band aimlessness. “The Hungry Stones” follows, and it's every bit as subdued as “Anyway” was raucous. “You know it’s kind of a drag/ Seeing your smile gone,” Valentine sings in his creaky, exaggerated drawl. From here on, the band ventures into even less defined territory. While Green Blues and Gettin’ Gone proved the band could play it straight (well, relatively), “Weatherhead Hollow,” a shimmering, glacial-paced crawl of phased chords and barely-there drums, demonstrates the group’s masterful restraint, even as Valentines distorted guitar soars over the building climax. It’s out front, but typically economic.
Later, title track “Drone Trailer” veers into tense raga territory, with its repetitive Indian drift giving way to supple, swelling pedal steel and Elder’s cooing vocals. “Twitchin’” recasts “Cortez the Killer” as a gentler, stranger character, removing the menace of that song's implied violence and replacing it with lonesome passages of slide guitar and mournful lyrics about “loving” and “wandering.” It’s characteristically sparse, like much of the album, filling out gradually and organically, with harmonica, harmonies, and noisier elements. The album ends with “Huna Cosm,” with dubby, echoing bass and swirling eddies of steel and guitar. It’s tense and soundtrack-ish, not unlike Castanets' City of Refuge album.
Drone Trailer is another fine addition to MV & EE's ridiculously prolific, yet highly impressive output. Even with its scant six tunes, it’s unlikely anyone will be left hanging long if more music from these two is what they are after.
1. Anyway
2. The Hungry Stones
3. Weatherhead Hollow
4. Drone Trailer
5. Twitchin'
6. Huna Cosm
More about: MV & EE with The Golden Road
