Label: Asthmatic Kitty
Released: Oct 19, 2004 |
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“I like everything…except for country.” Ugh! How many times have you heard someone utter that phrase? In high school, I never thought I’d be defending country music, but in my old post-graduate age, I’ve grown quite fond of some of it. When I say country, I’m not talking that watered-down radio rubbish like Garth Brooks or Travis Tritt. I mean, really down on my luck, “all I own are the clothes I’m wearing and this acoustic guitar” country.
Castanets main member/song-writer, Raymond Raposa, plays a different kind of country that falls moreso into the latter category that I mentioned. When Raposa sings, you feel his pain and you know he means every word of it. Most of Cathedral was recorded in a cabin in Northern California, and it definitely shows in the music. Settling somewhere in between Will Oldham and The Black Heart Procession, the mood on most of Cathedral is very dark and bleak. Many of the songs are slowly paced and sparse, featuring unusual percussion and instruments like toy pianos, dulcimers, and horns. However, a few songs like “Industry And Snow,” and the folky, “As You Do” are more upbeat and somewhat representative of traditional Americana. The album also ends on a more optimistic note with the playful interaction of acoustic guitar and electronic-drums on “Cathedral 4 (The Unbreaking Branch And Song).”
Cathedral is the perfect soundtrack for the changing of seasons: summer to fall, fall to winter – the time of the year when things get darker and colder, yet we are surrounded by so much beauty.
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