Will Oldham/Rian Murphy - All Most Heaven EP
(Drag City)
This little ep has what may possibly be the worst album cover since Blind Faith's Blind
Faith. But don't let that scare you off, because all that means is that the players and
producers poured all of their energies into creating quality music for a satisfying audio
experience for you, dear listener.
For the uninitiated, the primary players, credited on the front of the sleeve, are a couple
of Drag City regulars, Rian Murphy (of Chestnut Station) and Will Oldham (of the Palace
variants, a.k.a. Bonnie "Prince" Billy). On the flip side, we find listed, under the heading
"Featuring," a virtual Who's Who of indie songsmanship, including but not limited to, Bill
Callahan, Edith Frost, David Grubbs, Archer Prewitt, Jim O'Rourke, and Laetitia Sadier.
Of course, none of this information has yet revealed exactly what All Most Heaven
actually is. That is, in part, because I am not quite sure myself.
Some promotional materials describe the music as "the latest and most in beautiful,
economical, melodical, avant-chamber, sta-prest pop n roll." This statement makes no
sense, but I also can find no argument with it. A further elaboration follows, "Oldham
wrote the songs and gave a demo to Murphy to produce them as he saw fit. This involved
enlisting dozens of talents to arrange and play musical and vocal parts. Once this was
done, Will was brought back into the picture, to sing the haunting and mysterious words
to the songs as only he can. A little sweetening, a little remixing, and here you have the
finished production."
Its more precise parts consist of four songs, totaling 16 minutes in length, and a whole lot
of nonsense lyrics. Instruments, in the order they appear, include, piano, electric guitar,
bass, drums, Will Oldham's voice, organ, bells, female choir, a brass section, strings,
acoustic guitar, hand-played drums, and upright bass. Most importantly, however, this
record gives the listener the rare gift of starting off good and getting progressively better
with each song.
"Fall Again" is a bouncy, jaunty little tune, which starts of the record on a nice upbeat, if
a bit fluffy note. It would have been a throw away tune if not for the spicy organ rolls and
the sheer fun of the chorus, "all day so/they boge in do bo/when you call the name/of
they sing or they/I bahl bahl/hope they leave/and fall again." (In case you think I am
either making these lyrics up, or am just poorly transcribing them, I assure you that they
come directly from the lyric sheet and match exactly to what is being sung.)
"Fall and Raise it On" has a more lyrical and romantic feel, relying on stately strings and
majestic brass, underpinning Oldham's impassioned telling of how he "went down to the
ba hoo/where the wed water flow/and as the sill was glad/the fellow buddled uh/way de
fade uh guh/way de fade uh guh o." This song showcases the real strength of the
production: the frilly, turgid music is at once a perfect counterpoint to Oldham's
cracking, warbling yodel, and an exact match for his prissy emotionalism.
"Song of Most" moves in a more formal direction, more rhythmically precise than the
previous songs, and more complex in the interplay between the vocal melody, instrument
counter-melodies, and backing vocal harmonies. It begins in a very measured manner
and builds towards a lush, expressive climax, but only after appropriately false climaxes,
and denouements. Technically, it's the most impressive composition on the record, and
the best showcase of the talent of the musicians and songwriters involved in the project.
Finally, "Song of All," is the best song on the album. Though it makes no more sense
than any other on the record ("ess for the beda/basted ada deedle eye/for the way to be
hated/is abated audobye"), it has the feel of being the most serious song. It is the most
understated in terms or instrumentation and arrangement, simple piano and upright bass
drive the melody through the first couple of verses, while Oldham's voice affects a sad
and reflective tone. Organs and the female choir join in on the chorus, before erupting
into the emotional climax, made more effective by the previous understatement. It's a
very beautiful song and showcases how Oldham takes the shortcomings of his vocal
qualities and turns them to strengths through the honesty of his expression.
I don't really know whether to classify this as an off-the-cuff experiment, dadaist prank,
or post-rock exquisite corpse. All I know is that it keeps returning, again and again to my
stereo.
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