Boxhead Ensemble - Two Brothers
(Atavistic)
Michael Krassner's Boxhead Ensemble is a project with a revolving cast of members but a singular musical goal: drone out in a big, cinematic way. So, it's very fitting that all of their previous releases were soundtracks of a sort. The first was the Dutch Harbor soundtrack. They then toured with the film, playing live along with the movie. Their next two releases are taken from those shows, one from the screenings in the U.S., the other from those in Europe. Among the many notables who have been on past records are Ken Vandermark, Will Oldham, Julie Pomerleau, David Grubbs, Jim O'Rourke, Doug McCombs, Edith Frost, Mick Turner, and Jim White.
Turner and White (from the Dirty Three) are back for the new album, and Jeff
Tweedy and Jeff Parker join the expanding cast (along with several others). This album is a departure in the sense that it isn't related in some way to Dutch Harbor or any other film, but musically nothing has changed. Epic ambience and moping minor key smears of guitar, violin, clarinet, and many other assorted instruments cloud the sense of passing time and slow the swiftly spinning world to a lazy crawl. While there's nothing on Two Brothers that touches the brilliance of "Ebb's Folly" from the Dutch Harbor soundtrack (an acoustic Will Oldham song with drone swells and textures added by Jim O'Rourke), a song like "Requiem" shows Boxhead Ensemble's ability to write a lush, pulsing, and more importantly, melodic masterpiece that surpasses their previous wanderings.
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