Greg Davis - Curling Pond Woods
(Carpark)
Greg Davis has really branched out for his second album, Curling Pond Woods. That is, he spent some time sitting on a branch trying to capture some great recordings of birds. Davis' interest in field recordings of nature has seemingly blossomed since his first album, Arbor, devoting half of his Mort Aux Vaches CD to field recordings and starting a CDR series called "Leaves" partly devoted to these recordings. In Curling Pond Woods, Davis' second album, these field recordings start to both shape the music and make their way into Davis' songwriting.
This emphasis on field recordings works well and adds another dimenion to Davis' already unique blend of equal parts folk and electronica. Birds flutter around the repetitive melodies, adding dalliances to the sound. Their trills add a burst of flurried beats, and rain pounds on the ground at a random timing, mirroring Davis' increasingly random style of electronic percussion. The music, if anything, seems to build off these field recordings, like in "Improved Dreaming," where the electronic tones and marimba feel like water sounds against the rain forest-like backdrop.
Davis seems to be taking more chances with his percussion now and does a masterful job of exploring harder, more nonlinear beats while still keeping the feel of the songs delicate and gentle. Even when the beats get harsh, like in "An Alternate View of a Thicket," which is dominated by ragged near-static, the song still feels peaceful and sedate as the slow-paced build of softly-toned saxophone and keyboard give the song a warm underglow. In "Centermost," a twirl of odd popping noises backs Davis' acoustic guitar and Donald Mennerich's clarinet. The instruments create a relaxing vibe suitable for a Sunday morning in the park, and the beat, while it has no discernable rhythm, adds texture to the sound and does not distract from the propeling nature of the melody.
The centerpiece of the album is a reworking of the Beach Boys' "At My Window." Deconstructing Brian Wilson is nothing new, and given Fennesz devoted a whole album to it, it could seem old hat (the cover of Incredible String Band's "Air" later in the album is both more daring and more appropriate). The original is fairly minimal to begin with, and Davis' choice of instrumentation (changing keyboards to mostly acoustic guitar) isn't revolutionary. Field recordings of bird sounds are integrated into the intro of the song, mirroring the lyrics about a sparrow flying up to his window, however they're in the original as well. The main way Davis' version differs from the original is by making the vocal harmonies a lot less glossy and extending the droning outro for several minutes longer. The true judgement of the song should be how good it sounds, and Davis' version of "At My Window" is engaging. However, much of the credit for that should go to Jardine and Wilson. If anything, the original seems more avant garde with its broader and more unconventional use of vocals.
Perhaps these two cover songs on the album are less interesting because they rely so much on vocals and vocal harmonies. Davis and his friends are much better at harmonizing their instruments than at harmonizing their voices, as in the album's stand-out track, "Curling Pond Woods," with its great use of trombone, memorable melody, and completely appropriate Mellencamp-esque hand-claps.
It's hard to adequately convey the strength of the slightly less impressive sophomore album. While it's easy to harp on the negatives—the relatively unenthralling new ideas or the repeated themes from album one—it is difficult to re-address and essentially reiterate why a person's music is so good. In Curling Pond Woods, Greg Davis brings a few new ideas to his already unique style of "folktronica," and integrates them very well. While Arbor may be a better starting point to Davis' catalog, Curling Pond Woods is just as intriguing.
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