So maybe a bit too much has been made of the rise and fall of the Elephant 6 empire, with the principal members of the once glorious triumvirate of the Olivia Tremor Control, Neutral Milk Hotel, and the Apples in Stereo. If they are making music at all (and, yes, I’m looking at you, Jeff Mangum), they seem more interested in splintering off into an innumerable side-projects than in creating the next great concept record. But the almost comically incestuous relationship that led to the constant outward spiraling of an E6 inner circle that seems to have come to rest permanently in Athens, Georgia has not been without its legitimate children. For this year at least, it’s possible none have been more legitimate than Calvin Don’t Jump!
The work of E6 alum Kirk Pleasant, Calvin Don’t Jump!’s sophomore release is the culmination of everything hinted at in his 2001 debut, Crystal Clear Mississippi. A bit more focused and less avant-garde than that album, here he sounds a bit more confident as a lyricist and arranger, with the album’s 16 tracks bouncing back and forth from comfortably lo-fi (fuzzy even by E6 standards) psych-pop to a variety of experimental instrumentals. With his wife Gretchen Elsner draping her ominous viola over ominously shifting grand piano and Pleasant’s mixing and matching of acoustic guitar, trombone, clarinet, ukulele and accordion, the more song-oriented entries are surprisingly rich in tone and texture, revealing impressively unpredictable twists and turns that transcend the plaintive complexities of his arrangements and add an even more mysterious quality to the highly visual content of his lyricism.
Having contributed his multi-instrumental skills to a number of Gerbils and Olivia Tremor Control albums, Pleasant bolsters the experimental end of his songwriting with the eerie, and at times disjointed, pairing of unpredictable textures in his instrumentals. Take the gorgeously flowing hammered dulcimer (an admittedly obscure instrument that somewhat resembles playing the bare wire of the inside of a piano with felt-tipped pencils) solo that comprises “Triumphant Snow” or the gorgeous lilt of the accordion and clarinet duet in “Adding Up.” Such moments, despite being his most adventurous and unconventional, are similarly refreshing for their focus on a sturdy melody, never falling victim to emphasizing concept over execution.
All in all, A Way With Birds has the feel of the one of the best albums you’re not likely to hear this year. His alternately uneasy, irregular, queasy, and escapist vision aspires to the highest standards set by his Elephant 6 peers, landing somewhere between the ethos of experimental rock and creaky singer-songwriterisms en route to reaching Pleasant’s distinctive vision. If you do miss it, that’s your fault. 1. http://www.calvindontjump.com/
2. file://localhost/home/u4/tinymixtapes2/html/musicreviews/musicreviews.htm