7 Year Rabbit Cycle - Animal People
(Free Porcupine Society)
Rob Fisk, former guitarist and artist-in-residence of San Francisco's Deerhoof, left the band after recording Halfbird, the release that quietly preceded the critically lauded Reveille. And though he played a major part on the largely unappreciated Deerhoof gem Holdypaws, Fisk's move to Alaska, and, in turn, Knoxville, TN, left him out of the tidal wave of acclaim that his former band has garnered in recent years. This isn't to say, however, that Deerhoof is a better band without Fisk; this writer, on many days, may argue the opposite, but that Fisk and partner (and former Deerhoof keyboardist Kelly Goodefisk) left at what might be called by some to be the wrong time. Animal People, though, the debut by Fisk's new outfit, 7 Year Rabbit Cycle, proves not only that Fisk was a big part of what made the Deerhoof of his tenure such a great band, but also that though he's been off of most people's musical radar since his departure from the Bay area, Fisk still has what it takes to make challenging rock music that defies categorization.
Enlisting the help of his wife as vocalist as well as drummer Steve Gigante and bassist Miya Osaki, Fisk carved his return to the forest, Animal People, in the shape of sparse, rickety music that feels wholly natural and subtly dark. Fisk's gritty guitar tone hasn't lost its bite, and his fluid, repetitive lines tend to be the backbones of Animal People's music. Gigante adds spare but powerful percussive accents, and Osaki's bass serves as a melodic anchor, her low-end rumbling mimicking Fisk's guitar. Simple melodies and repetitive, minimal song structures make up the bulk of the album, with improvisational bookends and flourishes along the way. Each band member shares vocal duties, with Goodefisk and Osaki proving to be the two whose styles appear to fit best within the context of the music; Gigante is too aggro at times for Animal People's more peaceful vibe.
The stark melodies of Animal People and the flexible angularity it sometimes contains are uncannily strong reminders of a past musical project of Fisk's (and no, I'm not referring to Nitre Pit), though blanket comparisons to said group are unfair, since they undermine the strength of his current outfit, whose debut delves in a sort of hard-edged whimsy and wood grain foreboding. There's prettiness to be found on the Animal People, to be sure, but lurking underneath (and, sometimes, on the surface) is a rough-hewn intensity that Fisk's previous work didn't unleash. 7 Year Rabbit Cycle's forest is a peaceful one, but, like any untamed environ, it contains wild and unpredictable forces that stew unseen. Packaged in great, hand-made sleeves by Mr. Fisk.
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