Talk Talk Series, #5: Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man- Time Out of Season (2002) / Live Barcelona (2003) MP3 & FLAC

"If only you had told her the words to unfold her long ago."

During Portishead's interminably mysterious ten year hiatus, Beth Gibbons collaborated with ex-Talk Talk bassist Paul Webb (aka Rustin Man) on something approaching a solo project, which musically is quite a departure from her better-known work. In the context of Portishead's sample-heavy musical approach, Gibbons vocals, while serving as emotional catalyst for the music, really only comprise one treated element among many in the mix, which is, of course, one of the things that make their sound so distinctive. In contrast, on Time Out of Season, Gibbons' vocals step out front and center, something which accentuates their trademark pathos but adds a fragile nakedness not heard from her on previous recordings. The mood of the album is one of ethereal desolation, as Webb and Portishead's Adrian Utley provide a mostly acoustic backing that moves back and forth between folk and jazz inflected arrangements. For example, on the haunting lead track, "Mysteries," Gibbon's heartbreaking vocals are accompanied by a simple acoustic guitar arpeggio; however, it is Gibbons' multi-tracked backing vocals that take the song to another level, giving it an eerie nursery rhyme-like feel. "Drake," true to it's title, sounds like a lost track from Nick Drake's Bryter Layter, with Gibbons' laconic delivery and the funereal Jazz arrangement tapping in to Drake's unique brand of despair. It's truly a shame that (so far), Time Out of Season stands as a one-off collaboration because the album is brimming with intriguing possibilities that could have only been pursued to more stunning results on a second go-around. Quietly devastating indeed!

FL33t Foxes- H3lplessness Blu3s (2011) MP3 & FLAC

"I was raised up believing I was somehow unique, like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes."

While a cursory listen to the Fleet Foxes' long-awaited and much-delayed follow-up to their brilliant debut album suggests that not much has changed in terms of the band's sonic approach, those who dig beneath the ornate surface of Helplessness Blues will discover a journey into darker, often existential, territory. With Phil Ek once again manning the production booth, Fleet Foxes inhabit an even more expansive reverb-drenched soundscape than before, lending both a bottomless and timeless feel to their meticulously constructed baroque-folk compositions. Whereas their debut album tended to be a bit abstract lyrically (which put a lot of responsibility on the music itself to convey the album's emotional power), Helplessness Blues finds Robin Pecknold venturing into singer-songwriter territory; for example, in "Blue-Spotted Tail," Pecknold ponders humankind's greatest yet utterly unanswerable question: "Why in the night sky are the lights on?"  On "Helplessness Blues," one of the most powerful songs the Fleet Foxes have yet recorded, a similarly reflective existential theme emerges, as Pecknold peels away the illusions we cling to in order to give a vestige of form to our lives in the face of inconceivable randomness: "If I know only one thing, it's that everything I see of the world outside is so inconceivable, often I barely can speak."  While Helplessness Blues does depart occasionally from the soaring harmonies that have become the band's trademark (there are several tracks with Pecknold playing lone folk troubadour), overall, their sophomore album manages to improve on one of the best debut albums in recent memory. Go out and support this band.

FL33t Foxes- Sun Gi@nt EP (2008) / S/T (2008) MP3 & FLAC

"Penniless and tired with your hair grown long, I was looking at you there, and your face looked wrong."

Art is often, if not always, some form of bricolage, a tapestry woven using various and sundry materials that are collectively transformed into something new. I mention this because Fleet Foxes epitomize the artistic alchemy that can occur when familiar things are taken up and re-contextualized. An obvious contemporary touchstone for this band's sound would be My Morning Jacket, and while vocally, Robin Pecknold and Jim James wander through similar ornately desolate canyons of reverb (though James has been known to take these excursions to extremes), these bands pursue very different muses. What sets Fleet Foxes apart from the Indie pack is the timelessness of their sound and the often stunning vocal harmonies that can't help but recall, in a slightly refracted way, the early albums of Crosby, Stills & Nash. A perfect example of this is "Mykonos" from the Sun Giant EP; with its vaguely Hellenic feel coupled with Pecknold's backwoods vocal delivery and a seemingly looped acoustic guitar arpeggio, the song is already quite memorable in a quirky way, but once the bridge comes around with its transcendent vocal harmonies and classic rock flourishes, it simply sounds universal. Likewise, on "White Winter Hymnal" from the debut LP, Fleet Foxes seamlessly sew together elements of the Appalachian and British folk traditions, which, when punctuated with their wide-eyed vocal harmonies, creates something that sounds as if it could have been written any time within the past 150 years. Forget the hype and its inevitable backlash; this is simply gorgeous music created by some extremely gifted young musicians who have tapped into something both bittersweetly familiar and darkly beautiful.

Fleet Foxes- "Blue Ridge Mountains" (2008) Live, Grand Palais, Paris

You know a band is talented when a singer like J. Tillman can be relegated to drums:

Smoke Fairies- "Strange Moon Rising" Video (2011)

Take some delta-blues, mix with equal portions Brit-folk and Neo-Folk, and finish with a dash of Dream-Pop, allow to set, press play and enjoy your Smoke Fairies

Pearls Before Swine- One Nation Underground (1967) MP3 & FLAC

"...the Red's for the blood we lose; the White's for the gauze they use to cover burned-out blackened men; the rest is for the bodies numb and Blue."

Contemporary Neo-Folksters such as Espers and Charalambides owe much to Pearls Before Swine, whose leader, Tom Rapp, played a major role in inventing the template for psychedelia married to a folk aesthetic. As such, Rapp's definition of the term "folk music" was far more wide-ranging and far less in love with tradition than that of the typical protest singers of the early sixties. On One Nation Underground, he weaves together an eclectic array of elements including farfisa, acid-rock, and singer-songwriter melancholia to create something that still sounds original 44 years later. "Another Time," reportedly his very first song, is an achingly beautiful acoustic ballad about the aftermath of an escape from death, and one wonders if The Doors might have been familiar with "Morning Songs," with its electric organ, martial percussion, and sitar-miming banjo picking. Sadly under-appreciated, this debut, like all the Pearls Before Swine albums that followed it, certainly deserves the stature of a lost classic.

Espers- The Weed Tree EP (2005) MP3 & FLAC

"Poison's in my bloodstream, poison's in my pride. I'm after rebellion; I'll settle for lies."

What made Espers' self-titled debut so distinctive was its psychedelically-soaked reconstructions of 60s-70s era British Folk, and while The Weed Tree EP occasionally feels more like unreconstructed adoration in comparison, it, nevertheless, finds Espers taking a step forward. This is partly due to the band's expansion to a sextet, giving the arrangements a clarity and depth not found on their debut; however, the primary reason is that Meg Baird's vocals play a more featured role here, sounding more assertive while somehow losing none of their haunting beauty. If Sandy Denny and Jacqui McShee are her touchstones, Baird certainly proves she can hold her own in such company. Although The Weed Tree EP is mostly comprised of covers, the song selection is inspired. "Rosemary Lane," a song most often associated with Bert Jansch, is simply stunning, as Baird powerfully conveys the resigned despair of the song's narrator. Also memorable is the cover of Blue Oyster Cult's "Flaming Telepaths," featuring a duet between Baird and Greg Weeks, with Weeks' guitar sounding every bit as corrosive as the addictions described in the songs lyrics. A future lost classic.

Espers- S/T (2004) MP3 & FLAC

"So we circle and strive and reverse when we drive so we'll never arrive."

While it is clear that the members of Espers are profoundly influenced by the British-Folk scene of the 1960's and 70's, they are also practitioners of a dark brand of psychedelia that, when wedded to their otherwise baroque inclinations, makes for a heady brew best described as an Elizabethan acid-trip. While casual listeners may dismiss Espers as just another derivative hippie-worshiping indie band, this is simply not the case. This debut album positively drips with melancholy, and Espers use their influences as a jumping off point rather than a destination, always taking familiar sounds somewhere new and usually quite foreboding (and where else are you going to hear an auto-harp and acid guitar drone in the same song?). More Espers coming soon.

Mariee Sioux- Faces in the Rocks (2007) MP3 & FLAC -For Ana-

"Like bitter spirits and sweet wine, like two tongues at one time, at one time."

The term "ethereal" doesn't begin to describe the sound of Faces in the Rocks. While mostly comprised of Sioux's haunting voice and deft acoustic fingerpicking, the occasional addition of flute by Native American flautist Gentle Thunder adds an eerie thread through the album that, along with the cryptic natural imagery of Sioux's poetic lyrics, gives Faces in the Rocks a creepy fairytale effect. Sure, the ghost of late 60's Joni Mitchell presides over many of the songs, but you could do a lot worse than Joni as a spirit-guide.

Mariee Sioux- "Swimming Through Stones": Live, Studio Brussel (2009)

Here's an enigma wrapped in an amazing voice with a very envy-worthy guitar. More on Mariee Sioux soon...