Black Forest Black Sea - Forcefields and Constellations
(Blue Sanct)
Black Forest/Black Sea is the project that came out of the wreckage of The Iditarod. With their debut album, Jeffrey and Miriam established themselves as one of the more interesting folk projects around. In a time when so many bands are touting folk references and influences, and where utterly fractured folk is commonplace, Black Forest/Black Sea have set themselves apart from the rest. Rather than destroying folk and rebuilding something resembling a deformed beast, they've taken it and pushed forward.
This time around, they've enlisted a few friends to help out on some tracks. Christine Carter (of Charalambides and Scorces) and Glenn Donaldson (of Thuja, Blithe Sons, The Birdtree, Mirza, and many more) play on a few tracks, and samples of Kemmialiset Ystavat and Fursaxa pop up as well.
"Nylon 2" pairs gently hovering ambience with a great acoustic guitar part. "These Things" is the first time Miriam's voice is heard, accompanied by stuttered layers of ringing tones, chimes, and vibe-drones. "...With a Dead Man I've Never Met" is one of Miriam's better cello contributions, mournfully holding the reins as Jeffrey's fingerpicking holds the song's base. Once it has played through once, it repeats, with the cello part manipulated and twisted into a menacing and nightmarish ghost of its original self. "Hung Far Lowish" is the track on which Glenn Donaldson plays, and his bouzouki certainly fits in well with Jeffrey's fingerpicking and Miriam's furiously bowed cello. One of the record's high points, "Jamestown" is not only the longest track, but it's also the album's last. The cello and guitar slowly build to a cascade of delayed and distorted textures, as loops build and layer endlessly, the water slowly rises almost to the 10-minute mark before slowly ebbing away.
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