The Cutest Puppy In The World is the vehicle of Bryan Rhodes (piano, analog synthesizers, and combo organ) and Layne Garrett (guitar, bass clarinet, thumb piano, kora, at al.). Based out of the Baltimore / Washington DC area, the two create a hermetic, contained sound that evokes an otherwordly urban landscape at 3:00 am, dark alleyways that are simultaneously sinister and strangely familiar and welcoming. The band’s spare arrangements are often about space, but not necessarily wide open space; there is always something of the closed in, the claustrophobic. And not about silence either for even though the instrumentation can be very sparse and minimal, there is always something going on even if it is just a quivering hum. Rhodes’ constant background of subtle activity helps to balance Garrett’s occasionally more violent outbursts but the disc’s finest moments occur when the tension between these elements is temporarily held in abeyance in an uneasy peace (“Yugen Gracehopper”, and “Wu-Men Koan”). The recordings that comprise Finfolk were taken from two performances in Washington DC, one on-air at community radio station Radio CPR (in November, 2005), and one earlier at The Warehouse Next Door (June, 2005) and come housed in a slim DVD keepcase with a cleverly surreal cover image by local artist Joe Mills.
The November, 2005 set starts off with “Sordomutics” in which spare piano chords punctuate hovering loops to form a hypnotic base while guitar feedback and a plaintive bass clarinet weave in and out. Eventually the clarinet and piano follow each other around in a spiraling crescendo before subsiding back to their creepy saunter. “Yugen Gracehopper” starts in a squeal and roar of billowing clouds of guitar scrape and wind. Plucked semi-detuned strings seesaw against a menacing background deep synthesizer hum at first slowly, then picking up steam as they plunge headlong into the thicket. The smoke clears to reveal a vibrato laden serpentine slide guitar figure that enters Tom Carter territory in short order. In fact it’s hard not to hear the echoes of Charalambides here albeit slightly darker in its formulation. Things get a bit noisier over the next few tracks, regaining that sublime middle ground halfway through the closer “Olold Arcadian” only to be swallowed by a spastic guitar that kicks up the volume into thunderheads of clangor that collapse into a darkly ambient coda.
The June 2005 set begins with “Nangen Cuts The Cat In Two” which starts out as the soundtrack to a conjurer’s performance in a small village in the countryside before very restrained percussive piano and clarinet lead each other into the submerged Chinese opera of “Three Pounds of Flax.” The crowning achievement of the set has to be the gorgeously balanced dance of “Wu-Men Koan” with its shimmering slide guitar, creaking attic piano rumble and glistening bells. A beautiful din arises only to be led away from the precipice by the re-emergence of slide and lyrical piano.
The one annoying thing about the mastering on the disc is the insertion of a second of silence between each track disturbing the seamless flow of the performances. However, that is a small price to pay for such consistently inventive and lovely compositions rendered with the utmost care. The Cutest Puppy In The World may sound nothing like their name, but that’s exactly why you should be paying attention to Finfolk.
