Dorks And Losers

Let me know if I’m wrong, but isn’t it dif­fi­cult to think about cham­ber folk (or even just folk for that mat­ter) with­out think­ing Port­land, Ore­gon? These days the two feel like one and the same: for­ti­tude, tran­quil­ity, and nat­ural won­der. The retooled quin­tet Alameda joins the folk music party with its sopho­more album Pro­ces­sion, a low sim­mer­ing cup of tea that you never for­get to drink on the sad­dest days.

That may be a bit mis­lead­ing, as Pro­ces­sion may not be the type of upbeat flair that will help power you through pain. It may not even be the type of uplift­ing tales that would be told to help guide through strug­gles or anguish. It’s more like a mem­ory that keeps hold, no mat­ter where you are–calming. It’s the place you call home; it’s the feel­ing you find relax­ing; it’s the time that’s right.

Led by duo vocal­ists Stir­ling Myles (gui­tar) and Jessie Det­twiler (cello), Alameda (also Jen­nifer Woodall, clar­inet; Tim Grimes, gui­tar; Barra Brown, drums) includes cre­ates lush and intro­spec­tive sound­scapes that take you sur­pris­ingly far and wide on a rel­a­tively brisk 32-minute nine-song album.

The open­ing “Col­fax” sets a stun­ning tone for the album with com­plex and stir­ring har­monies that help drive the gen­tle chants: “Wind­shield view of a crowded street / You pass on through in a vivid sleep / All around in a march­ing drone / As win­ter churns in wartime tones.” Even “Limbs Of Youth,” with its more up-tempo melodies, fol­lows with a sim­i­lar intense passion.

Much of the album’s inten­sity can be attrib­uted to the col­lab­o­ra­tive efforts from each band­mem­ber. Myles noted that “you can hear everyone’s enthu­si­asm” on the album, which shows through the album’s con­sis­tently expres­sive bal­lads (press release). Even though lyrics can seem some­what strange and con­fus­ing at times, there is nev­er­the­less a con­scious drive to move for­ward (best heard on “Swollen Light” with its charg­ing melody and force­ful notes).

While this review might seem abstract, it’s because the music is too. There is no story. That’s the point, but if you need to hear it from him, Myles explained “the inten­tion of this album was look­ing at and going in and out of per­spec­tive.” It’s open. Embrace.

Face­book: http://www.facebook.com/AlamedaBand

[photo via Riot Act Media]

Track list:

1. Col­fax
2. Limbs Of Youth
3. Slow Begin­nings
4. Sum­mer Dharma (Ode To Jack Spicer)
5. Swollen Light
6. Low Ori­ole
7. Por­trait #1: To The Knives
8. Oax­aca (Rooftop Altars)
9. Win­ter Dharma

Note: Arti­cle first pub­lished as Music Review: Alameda — Pro­ces­sion on Blogcritics.