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Home  >  Brightblack Morning Light  >  Brightblack Morning Light

Brightblack Morning Light

Brightblack Morning Light

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Review

Rated Member Rating by Marcel_Ledbetter on 07/08/2006

At the core Brightblack Morning Light are Alabama-bred, Northern California-based singer/guitarist, Nathan "Nabob" Shineywater, and singer/Rhodes pianist, Rachel "Rabob" Hughes. They explain this "hippiese" term used for both the band name and album title as a "color of the day when the truth of the universe is faded into a veil of blue sky." You hip?, or just plain hippie?

Nabob and Rabob were curators of the Quiet Quiet Ocean Spell rural music gathering for the past three years. This "illuminating song sharing ceremony" brings out the heavyweights of the neo-folk movement, including Espers, Devendra Banhart, Michael Hurley, and Vetiver. This should serve to set a reference point of what is happening on this sophomore, self-titled effort.

"Everybody Daylight" begins the album with a ultra-cool vibe. Smooth Rhodes chords, sparse Gibson guitar riffs and tasteful flute sounds are interlaced with a great, organic backbeat that sounds as if hand-claps are snare-hits and foot-stomps are bass-kicks. This is a practiced, sexy drum-circle you are not at all ashamed to be a part of. Not too hippy, not too forced, not too fast, not too slow, just a fantastic groove you want to just go on forever. In fact, the album maybe would have been better off if they just rode this one out for the entire 52 minutes. The rest of the album has this first song in mind at every turn, but none of the other tracks ever achieve this height.

One would think that all of the wind chimes, rain bells, rattle gourds, sizzle seeds, congas, tablas, magik hats and seed capsules being thrown at you at every opportunity throughout this journey might be enough to keep your attention, or at least keep you awake. But each tune acts as a perfect lullaby thatttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttmkl...damn!!, sorry. Just thinking about it put me out for a second. Eureka! Maybe this was the intent! Maybe these songs are intended to help you sleep and dream of a world where people put "earth first", and the great Eel River and all her tributaries are restored to a natural state of abundance, and Leonard Peltier is as free as the owl you are being asked to share your blanket with. Hmmmm, a brilliant psychological experiment in hypnosis with intent to affect global change through local sounds. If I find out that was indeed the intent, I will change my rating to 5-star. Until then, I have to leave this as a solid, but relatively unremarkable contribution to the "freak folk" scene.
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Comments

I agree there is nothing "freaky" going on here. I think it is being used in more of the eccentric or nonconformist tone when referring to the overall "folk" scene. I did not name the movement, that was done a while back, but I did hear that "freak folk" was out and "playboy folk" was in. But maybe that was a joke?
Posted by Marcel_Ledbetter on 07/18/2006 
I don't see what is so "freaky" about that record. But anything that's bearable while taking drugs to is okay with me.
Posted by Kristy on 07/18/2006 
Yeah? I would not have guessed, from profile and past reviews, that you are a particular fan of this "freak folk" movement. Is there another side to Kristy you are not sharing?
Posted by Marcel_Ledbetter on 07/12/2006 
The jury is still out with me on that record.
Posted by Kristy on 07/11/2006 

Album Details

  • Year: 2006
  • Label: Matador
  • Producer:
  • Musicians:

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