CST065 Deluxe LP / CD / MP3 Poster
TINDERSTICKS
Falling Down
A Mountain
In the wake of their critically celebrated 2008 album The Hungry Saw – their first in five years – the recharged and regenerated Tindersticks present their second North American release on Constellation Records, Falling Down A Mountain. The band has worked non-stop since the release of their previous record, playing dozens of shows from fall 2008 to summer 2009 in various configurations ranging from a sinewy core of 7 musicians to a larger orchestral ensemble numbering as many as 12 players (documented in a wonderful self-released tour-only CD last year). Tindersticks have become a truly rejuvenated and productive force. As the band writes: “From nervous beginnings, a new unity and sense of direction grew. Where once our touring days were spent hanging around, killing time, now we found ourselves cobbling together acoustic rehearsals for new ideas in dressing rooms and venue corridors. There was a growing need to make something new and we quickly started working in our studio in France.”
Falling Down A Mountain came together in two studios (Staples’ own Le Chien Chanceux in France and ICP in Belgium) over three summer months in 2009. Very much a group effort, the recordings were built from a foundation of Staples (guitar, voice) and Boulter (keyboards) along with fellow original band member Neil Fraser (guitar), long time collaborator Terry Edwards (trumpet) and more recent recruits Dan McKinna (bass) and Andy Nice (cello) – all of who appeared on The Hungry Saw. Aided by the new ideas of fresh additions Earl Harvin (drums, vocals) and David Kitt (guitar, vocals) and a rare guest vocal appearance by Mary Margaret O’Hara on “Peanuts”, Falling Down A Mountain reveals a newly colorful, textured, dynamic and at times even exuberant musical personality for the band. Of course, the album remains tinged by the band’s unique brand of ‘Northern Soul’ and anchored by Staples’ inimitably intimate, deadpan voice.
Title track “Falling Down A Mountain” works a spacious 15/8 groove with atmospheric guitars and Edwards’ trumpet setting a swirling tension off the top, giving way to overlapping vocal lines around which the tune slowly coalesces – a gorgeously loose and supple way to kick off the record, and a wonderful update on the ‘bubbling cauldron’ approach to sonics that marked some of Tindersticks’ most compelling earlier work. The lilting ballad “Keep You Beautiful” and the snappy, hand-clapping “Harmony Around My Table” follow, signaling the dynamic/stylistic range for the album as a whole. Dan McKinna’s widescreen instrumental composition “Hubbard’s Hills” and the gritty rave-up “Black Smoke” broaden the album’s diversity and further demonstrate the band’s versatility. At the same time these many moods effortlessly cohere around the group’s consistent sonic identity. The overall result is a magnificent updating of and addition to the Tindersticks canon.