Uke of Spaces Corners County -- a cumbersomely perfect moniker -- is a foray into a homey sentiment developed primarily by Dan Beckman of Impractical Cockpit. The project was initially known on numerous tours as Uke of Phillips, and here the name has been changed, perhaps to help mark the expansion of the band from Dan B.’s solo group to something with a more collective vision. Additional performers include Amy Moon O.S., Andy Neubauer, Drew Ryan, and Kristin Myers. Many of the contributors evacuated New Orleans at the same time; Katrina created a musical diaspora, and some of the refugees got back together in NC to make an album.
So Far On The Way is, at its heart, a record that functions like a pasture, a place for the listener to graze, feel the wind, and watch dragonflies mate. The romping rhythms and varied acoustica suggest rural Americana’s finest. A crafty, traditional approach keeps the album feeling simple and straightforward, although there are plenty of fuzzes, hums, squeaks, bleeps, random squalls, and other spastic elements to make the whole thing sound like a temperate rainforest drenched in desert mescaline. It’s that lo-tech buzz combined with a playful sensibility that makes this a listen for just about any mood.
The album's weirder and unexpected elements will only standout to listeners expecting a bluegrass record; for anyone else, it could likely fill a niche previously occupied by The Cherry Blossoms or Dock Boggs, or even early Sebadoh or Beck. Some have described the album as "gutter country," but somehow that appellation seems wholly inappropriate. When I think of gutters, I think of despondent, out-of-luck, rock-bottom times. So Far On The Way, however, focuses on some basic, uplifting ideas about what life is when taken as it comes.
For example, key lines from “Mountain Home” read, “Glazing windows/ Isn’t such a bad job/ When the snow fallin'/ Down until you realize/ There’s a world outside.” The musical notions and lyrical images in these songs have a whimsical attitude that inspires celebration rather than lament. Even in some of the abstractly poetic, noisier tracks, the vocals have a playful, childish quality to them. “Today the Mirror,” which has proven to be my initial favorite for being the most infectious tune on the record, rambles to a drum machine pooting along, while Dan chants in an adolescent sing-song, “Gun shots kites fly/ Gun shots kites fly/ Gun shots kites fly/ Blink an eye.” Just as the record plays with your ears, it also plays with your mind at points by juxtaposing dissonant clanging and reverb with some intensely pastoral imagery. For example, the noisiest track on the album, “In Between,” rings as Dan and Co. belt out “Crimson clover cover crop” in reverential chant. There is a Sun Ra cover floating right next to two songs that tweet with the sound of a bird chirping.
The vision behind So Far On The Way resonates with the part of me that appreciates the smell of chopped wood or an old-time fiddle jam performed extemporaneously by aged wizards of America’s stringed instruments, while the execution and experiment of it all tickles my noise bone. Very good, indeed.
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