State River Widening - s/t
(Rocket Girl)
State River Widening is a three piece from London who put an acoustic tint
on the commonly borrowed palette of early Tortoise. Followers of this style
of music may immediately latch on to a comparison with Pullman, the Thrill
Jockey "supergroup" featuring Bundy Brown and Doug McCombs, and such a
comparison is not too far off. Both Pullman and State River Widening create
laid-back arrangements centered on acoustic guitar, exquisitely textured and
pastoral, all instrumental. Both also use similar recording techniques, using
mostly or all live takes with minimal production concerns. What sets these two
bands apart, interestingly enough, is that State River's final product ends up
closer to the original blueprints of the first Tortoise album than does
Pullman, which veers closer to the roots of folk, country, and blues acoustic
guitar soloists. State River Widening is more simply a post rock album that
emphasizes acoustic guitar.
Along with guitar and drums, the group also puts marimba, melodica, and organ
to good use throughout the album. The song "Charmfield" even uses enough bass
to create a tectonic funk groove. Each song has a wonderful feel with almost
pop undertones similar to the music of the post-emo group of Tortoise
impersonators (such as Pelé and Tristeza). While State
River may remain more loyal in sound to Tortoise, it doesn't suffer the same
ills of some of Tortoise's work and many of their imitators as each song on
the album is warm and inviting and not at all pretentious, while still being
layered and complex.
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