Salamander - Birds of Appetite
(Camera Obscura)
Minneapolis' finest psychedelic export have once again delivered the goods on this, their third full-length (all on Camera Obscura). Guitarists Erik Wivinus (also of local legends Skye Klad and Gentle Tasaday—whose debuts are also available from Camera Obscura) and Sean Connaughty (also of The Vortex Navigations—debut on Camera Obscura as well) team up with bassist Doug Morman and skinpounder Matt Zaun (another Skye Klad member) for a collection of ethnic wyrdfolk which is lighter than their previous "Red" outings ("Mantra" and "Ampersand") and heavier on the Floydisms, ca. "Set the Controls..." In fact, leadoff track "Vessel Is Vacant" cops the riff right out from under Water's nose and eases its way into our cranium like a hot knife through butter. It ends so abruptly, however, I thought they left the coda on the cutting room floor.
"Ithsmus" is easier to absorb than pronounce, circling around the room like a spider ensnaring her prey in a web of guitar duals, Connaughty and Wivinus challenging each other in a series of "can you top this?" guitar runs. "Minutia Divine" has a hint of Spanish air about it, with Connaughty's flamenco-styled guitar hovering over the proceedings as samples, loops, acoustic guitars and Zaun's special fx rumble along like tribal warriors readying for the "sweat tent."
Leonard Nimoy introduces the 11-minute jam, "Sadhu" (in the preamble, "Yeoman, Pt. 1"), which springboards from its early "Set The Controls." atmospherics into referential nods to Grimble Grumble's "Future, The Only Point of Entry" and the band's earlier workouts like "Old Mr. Jones" along the way. It features more spacey "swooshes" over Connaughty's crystalline electric guitar runs as Wivinus serpentines his way over, under, sideways, down and back again in the finest tradition of twin guitar gods Deebank & Lawrence (Felt) and Lever and Smithies (Chameleons.) Snippets of Disintegration-era Robert (Cure) Smith also sneak in for a few guest riffs. This is a guitar head's fantasy come true and these two masters have adjourned as the new "heads" of the class of '01!
Those who remember the 3xLP/2xCD compilation, Harmony of the Spheres from a few years back will appreciate the awe and mystery of the ominous "Trench of Fire" (originally a sidelong, 20-minute extrava-ganja), with its familiar opening strains of Siouxsie's "Premature Burial" eventually yielding to Connaughty's echoey dive-bombing kamikaze assaults on the psyche while Wivinus swabs the deck with thundering Sabbath tonnage and the rhythm section announces the arrival of the Walkyrie. The tightly focused piece takes a few minutes to find its footing (common with lengthy, improvised jams of this sort), but soon combines elements of krautrock (Can and Amon Duul II come to mind) with industrial-strength, screeching guitars (perhaps inspired by the gothic influences of Wivinus' side project, Skye Klad) that will surely have the Cleopatra death metal kids creaming in their jeans. The sensual overload pinned me to my chair, leaving permanent imprints on my cerebellum.
The jam continues on "Mumpsimus' Lament." Unfortunately, the slight pause between tracks fails to take advantage of the CD technology, leaving us once again with a break in the vibe, and the appearance that we are joining our heroes mid-jam, similar to the outtakes on Abunai!'s Round Wound. Just as listeners were previously forced to turn the record over, the pause is unsettling and awkward. I would have preferred if the two tracks ran together, creating a seamless continuity so obvious in the music itself. The trade-off with this missed opportunity is a vastly superior sound, particularly over my copy of the original double-vinyl release, which had annoying, bowel-evacuating, scratch-the-stylus-across-the-record scratches at the end of each side.
The clanging bells at the onset of "The Wreck of Old 99" may be some sunken liner at the bottom of one of Minnesota's 10,000 lakes, but I'm going out on a limb and offering an alternate reading: the (often indistinguishable) TV samples and funereal organ flourishes, to my ear, signal the end of the 20th century.
Ending this album with this particular track, in light of what's proceeded, indicates not only the end of the century, but the end of Salamander's "phase 1" and the start of a gentler, kinder direction. Goodbye "Old Mr. Jones." He's dead and buried and Salamander have embarked on a new journey to the stars. The Birds of Appetite (a pseudonym for vultures?) are circling overhead observing the carnage of our past, their tears of remorse dousing the fires of the apocalypse below.
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