Balmorhea's music has been labelled post-rock but Elliott Childs hears Americana in their recent second album.
Balmorhea Photo: Claire Cottrell
Austin, Texas based, Balmorhea have been around for approximately a decade, creating music that they, accurately, describe as “maximalist” and “genre leaping”. Clear Language, their second full length album is, essentially, a collection of instrumental, musical short stories that spans multiple genres. Rob Low and Michael Muller make up the core duo of Balmorhea but they are joined by several additional musicians throughout the album, with guitars, organ, synthesizer, strings and trumpets helping to create this rich sounding music.
Clear Language Photo: supplied
In his wonderful book “The Blue Moment”, music writer Richard Williams, details the influence that Miles Davis’ landmark album Kind Of Blue has had on music since its release in 1959. Perhaps it’s the distant, lone trumpet (played by fellow Austinite Ephraim Owens) that appears halfway through, but the track Slow Stone, seems like the perfect example of what Williams was writing about. Multiple instruments take turns cycling through the same refrain throughout this piece capturing the same melancholic beauty that Davis’ masterpiece did nearly 60 years ago.
Not only is there a vast array of different instruments present on any given track but there’s also the presence of non-musical sound too. These sounds seem almost tuned to the music, fitting in with the feel and tone of the rest of the track, occasionally so well that they could be mistaken for amplifier hum, or room tone. These recordings can also add a grounding element to this, at times, airy, cerebral music, providing an audible tether to the real, physical world.
Each track on Clear Language stands on its own with its own tone and mood. They feel almost like mini-symphonies at times. The evolving sounds and tones of these pieces seem to tell their own story as they progress. However if you listen carefully, there are ties that bind these pieces together as a larger picture. To my ear the sound of this record contributes almost as much to the feel of each piece as the music itself. For example the lone piano on Waiting Itself is recorded beautifully, capturing all the resonance and depth of the instrument, but also giving us a sense of the physical space around it. Adding or subtracting anything from this recording would change the feel of the track entirely, and why change something this beautiful?
Balmorhea may have their own definitions of their music, but if I had to give this album a genre, it would be Americana. Not because of any country or rock influences that that term brings to mind, but because this album very much takes its cues from the history of American music. Even a casual listener will hear the jazz elements in the compositions but there are elements of noise-rock, pop and modern classical too. This blending of styles combined with the array of sounds used and the subtle, sensitive production, make for compelling listening.
