Crooked Fingers - Bring On the Snakes
(Warm)
Eric Bachmann (former frontman of the Archers of Loaf) turns in
the second full length of his new solo project, Crooked Fingers,
in less than a year with Bring On the Snakes. The album finds
Bachmann battling the same old demons of addiction and depression,
but here, instead of moping in the pain and misery as he did on
the self-titled debut, he sings of wiping away past sins and
starting again.
The first track of the album, "The Rotting Strip," deals with
a couple deciding to battle addiction together. However, later
in the song, Bachmann squashes hope, offering "Boredom settled in
and I can't take you sober," showing this battle will not be
an easy one. Later in the album, however, Bachmann is clearly
ready to set his life straight. He sings in "Surrender is
Treason" of choking on a new found reason to "try," wanting to
make his life better but possibly not getting that chance.
By the end of the album, he is ready to be reborn--to start
his life over again. The title track, "Bring On the Snakes,"
deals with the metaphor of snakes shedding their skin.
The next and final song, "There's a Blue Light," is ripe with
imagery of a baptism.
Emotionally and lyrically, Crooked Finger's second album is just
as outstanding as his first. However, musically, it leaves a lot
to be desired, making it feel like the year between albums was
possibly too short. All the pop elements of the first album are
gone leaving the music as some sort of simplistic folk, full of
plain guitar picking and minor atmospheric flourishes like
spare keyboard notes or a ringing bicycle bell. Songs are built
from a short simple phrase used throughout the song. Little of
what makes Bachmann such a great songwriter is on display here.
This minimal approach also seems to detract from the intended
emotion of the songs. The plain quiet swelling adds sorrow to the
songs, making them seem like they're coming from a tired soul ready
to give up. While the lyrics of Bring On the Snakes definitely
come from a tired soul, it is of one ready to be reborn. There
should be some optimism in the music, especially towards the end
of the album, which is never really conveyed. If anything, Bring
On the Snakes should be the pop album, and the self-titled debut
should be the quiet mournful folk album; instead we have the
opposite.
The simpleness of the music of Bring On the Snakes makes it seem
like Bachmann did not give himself time to develop the songs.
Perhaps he was too eager to express what he was going through,
hoping much like Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska, the album would
end up sounding stronger than Bachmann's more and the E Street
Band sounding debut. However, Bring On the Snakes doesn't sound
more raw; it just sounds underdone.
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