The Channel are that band, the one you've never heard and never will hear. They toil in obscurity with millions of other indie-rokkers, looking for little more than the opportunity to express themselves through their music. They will connect with a few random souls but fail to persuade the herd to their trough.
Sounds like a pretty tough lot in life, but this joyful double album proves that as long as the artist is true, little else matters. Reaching for the elusive Elephant 6 essence – the non-psych division – with alt-country sprinkled into the mix, The Channel are happy to sing you to sleep. Not happy in the annoying, cloying way either. They simply love to play. If you can forgive a rough patch of road here and there – in this case the listless "Wages of Death" and "The Daring Eye" – a sweet bounty will be waiting with bells on at the end of the road.
Much like previous effort Personalized toted "Old Mary Weather" as its alpha track, Tales sinks and swims on the strength of its best offering. Demanding attention right away with a fascinating verse and banjo line, "The Man I Don't Remember" is the sort of ditty that could make The Channel legends. So breathtaking is "The Man" that you might just forget the rest of this double-helping's back-porch glow, save the entrancing keyboard waltz of "Fired #3."
Tempering this problem, Sibylline Machine is Tales' exact opposite, a widened focus calling attention to its whole rather than its parts. Initiated by a whirring, multicolored rubber-band ball of sound, Sibylline Machine is a sit-down experience with the level-headed consistency Tales lacks, pleased-as-punch with its psychedelic bubbles of synth and fuzz guitar. All in all, neither album will bowl you over, but if their particular brand hits you in just the right way, you'll find yourself listening...
Tales From The Two Hill Heart
1. Up on the Hill
2. Wages of Death
3. Olden Days
4. The Deserter (click to download mp3)
5. The Daring Eye
6. The Man I Don't Remember
7. Aching
8. Halls of the Gifted
9. Fired #3
10. New Mexican Arcade
11. The Creek
12. ...2 Kinds of Leaders
13. ....Whirly Bird
Sibylline Machine:
1. Deep Silent Seas
2. Bedsides/Ohio
3. Sibylline Machine (click to download mp3)
4. Rapture, My Captain
5. The King of Spain
6. The Network of Eaves
7. Disco for Daisies
8. Sneaks or Skates?
9. Under the Carpet
10. Second Born Daughters}