Austin Sound

For centuries, man has been looking to the stars for guidance and inspiration. While Austin’s Balmorhea may not need to cross the Atlantic with astrolabe in hand, the five-piece, in their fourth LP release Constellations, uses the heavens and the sea for a muse, crafting out of it a sparse and vast album far different than their previous musical outings. At once bare and beautiful, the band eschews the high-tech cosmos stereotypes of ‘space music,’ and opts instead for a more human, analog sound, capturing the essence of the cold void with the warm sounds of wood and sinew.

Dusting off the telescope lens, the first offering, “To the Order of Night,” is a slow and empty start. Gentle piano keys are left to ring out, alone, as ambient wood scratching noises of Travis Chapman’s upright bass creak and flutter like a film reel left spinning too long.

Sorry old elementary school adage, but sometimes you can judge books by their cover, or in this case, an album. The cover for Ola Podrida’s Belly of the Lion, with its silhouetted figure half standing out in the waning sunlight, half blending into the flat Texas landscape, suggests a number of the isolating themes and sharp dynamics held within these otherwise soft layers of instruments and nonthreatening vocals. It’s a fitting image, too, as Ola Podrida’s sophomore album and debut on local label Western Vinyl also presents the return of David Wingo to Texas after time the songwriter spent in New York.

Ah, the time honored tradition of the remix. We figure these things really only go two ways. Either the band is really big, and some low-profile laptop lapdog adds some bells and whistles and says, “Hey mom, look what I did, can I stay in the basement another month?”, or a the band is unknown and they get some Mix Master Amigo to slap some beats into that shit and call it a day all round. Well, a funny thing happened on Balmorhea’s way to the remix bin - they actually produced something pretty damn good! Perhaps this is because the freshly released remix album of All is Wild, All is Silent doesn’t try to score worthless points with a bunch of big names, but rather just culls some like-minded musical friends that the local outfit has made around the world to do their worst. The folks they gathered were mostly oddball, marginal instrumentalists and digital pros, so there really wasn’t anything riding on the outcome that would, say, break the internets with downloads. That’s not to say the remixers are just a bunch of no-name hacks either. Let’s face it, we love Balmorhea and would put them on any list of must-hear Austin bands, but they’re unlikely to be the next Explosions in the Sky or something (Hey reporter, ask them about EitS - they love that question!). Anyway, the bottom line is that the source material is stellar, the remixes don’t try to be anything other unique and interesting, and the result is an album of cool tunes. Don’t take our word for it, though, download Portland-based Helios’ spin of “Truth” below, and order the album from local imprint Western Vinyl, who’s track record this year has been ridiculously good (Here We Go Magic; J. Tilman). And you catch the un-remixed Balmorhea tonight at the Parish with Ume and Sunset. After all, if you’re anything like us, you haven’t been to the Parish in ages because they can’t seem to book a good show to save their life anymore - so take advantage of the awesome room while you can!

It’s rare for an instrumental group to be as prolific as Balmorhea, with All Is Wild, All Is Silent serving as the group’s third LP in as many years (and another is already reportedly recorded). What is even rarer, however, is for those albums to improve with each release and progress as vividly as Balmorhea has. Last year’s Rivers Arms took the subtle constructions that Rob Lowe and Michael Muller had outlined on their eponymous 2007 debut and expanded them with string arrangements and touches of ambient field recordings that gave the impression of falling in and out of a dream. The group’s latest effort builds even further upon their familiar classical elements that have set Balmorhea apart from typical post-rock pack, yet also flashes moments of more power and a greater restlessness than any of their previous tunes, largely due to the addition on this album of drums courtesy of Bruce Blay.

Balmorhea’s exceptional self-titled 2007 debut was perhaps most appropriately described by the group itself, the back of the case quoting the final line of Seamus Heaney’s poem “The Rescue”: “like water in a dream of thaw.” That poetic sense was infused into the sparse compositions of piano and classical guitar, and it equally underlies the poignancy of their sophomore release Rivers Arms.

The instrumental project of Rob Lowe and Michael Muller, Balmorhea fills out the sound on their second album with the additions of Aisha Burns’ violin, Erin Lance’s cello, and Jacob Glenn-Levin on bass guitar. Much of the beauty of Rivers Arms, like the group’s debut before it, lies in the simple and elegant constructions of the songs that never feel the need for dramatic crescendo or stop and starts that characterize so many instrumental outfits. There is a classical aplomb to the songs, melodies washing in a direct, if intricately intertwining, dance, almost ambient in its minimalism. That’s not to suggest that Rivers Arms is without plot or substance, but rather, like the poetic lines from which the duo seem to draw so much inspiration, deliver impressionistic visions with an openness that allows the listener invest the emotion and meaning, in much the same vein as John Cage or Phillip Glass.