Rollerball - Trail of the Butter Yeti
(Roadcone)
Last year's Bathing Music by Portland's premier gypsy orchestra, Rollerball,
was the sound of train track-side parties and dark magic revivals, the
sound of this band of gypsies making it to a new town, setting up camp,
and rejoicing in the end of another journey. In contrast, Rollerball's
new album, Trail of the Butter Yeti, centers on the voyage itself, giving
the album a darker, sparser, and less accessible sound, sounding more like
nature's soundscape with a few lonely human voices than Bathing Music's
richer pageantry and more pop-natured sing-alongs.
"Butter Fairy," the centerpiece to the album at 10 minutes long, sounds
very much like a recreation of the forest scenes from the movie Princess
Mononoke. Drums and percussion create the sound of the grass and the
leaves while guitar, saxophone, accordian, and other instruments add
ghostly voices, sounding like spirits of the forest coming
to you at night, warning you from going any further. The sound of
"Truth" also has a very earthy, nature-like feel, sounding like insects
chirping and birds hootings, making the listener feel like he is
also alone on the road in the middle of nature.
In fact, several of the lyrics on this album match this theme of going
back to the lonely, open road. "Earth 2 Wood" finds the band telling each city
to "keep smiling," as the band leaves each port for its next journey. "Narcisse"
centers on the phrase "Let's break bread with the
dogs," drawing images of isolation where souls are disconnected from society
(perhaps, like Narcissi, because they are so wrapped up in themselves and
their ideals) and have no one to share a meal with other than the animals. Even
the title of the album, Trail of the Butter Yeti, sounds like a lonely
voyage to unknown places in order to find some mystical but ultimately
nonexistent being.
The more pop-oriented songs on the album, where the band sings, are
very well done and show much development when compared to the simpler, more
piano ballad-type songs of Bathing Music. "Lon Chaney" goes through
several moods before it even gets to the vocals. Piano and saxophone
play quick-paced counter melodies to create a triumphant sound. The mood
turns angrier as the piano plays something more discordant. Mae Starr's
always amazing cabaret-style vocals mellow out the song for a few moments,
making it more somber, before the saxophone and piano come back to life
for a pleasant postlude.
This darker, more soundscape-oriented sound of Trail of the Butter Yeti
shows a maturation over last year's Bathing Music but is no more
enjoyable than that album. While the band is able
to create rich and interesting textures, they have a tendency to go
overboard, creating inordinately long pieces that don't seem to go anywhere,
songs that may work for a soundtrack but seem self indulgent beside
the richer, more pop and melodic songs.
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