Timber Timbre - Timber Timbre (2009)

I know I know... I slacked off for a whole week already. But I was busy, working, out and about, and writing other stuff and reviews I don't want to post on here. But now, I'm back. And for my first review back, I'm choosing a fantastic simple bluesy, lo-fi, indie rock/folk album. Sadly, apparently I wasn't on top of it because I completely missed this release when it came out in January. Luckily for all you music lovers out there (and me!) it was re-released again today. The band is Timber Timbre, and the self titled album is their third release. I went back and checked out the rest of their catalog, and quickly decided this is their best piece of work to date. Taylor Kirk, lead singer, has a very unique low, warbling voice that he utilizes to the best of it's potential. The music is actually very stripped down, but at the same time it has everything it needs - their is a strings section that occassionally comes in, and besides that the album has everything from a typical synthesizer sound to an organ to electronic sounds. But the main focus stays on the lyrics, which are very well written - Kirk tells some great stories that are not your typical blues. Reflective, dark, and foreboding, this shows blues evolving to keep up with modern day indie rock and folk music. Lay Down in the Tall Grass is a dark song with a syncopated organ rhythym and drum beat playing with a truly bizarre chorus: "I dreamed you found me out in a field / You tripped over my site /And you dug me out of this shallow grave... And only you could revive me,/ so badly decomposed." This leads into Until the Night is Over, a psychedelic tinged song that could almost be something by The Doors, if they stripped down their music a lot and had Kirk as a singer. Magic Arrow is about the settlers coming to America and destroying the land and taking everything from the Indians. The main guitar melody is even the typical riff you would think of as Native American music. The rest of the songs deal with loneliness and isolation, all be it with much more complicated lyrics than much of the blues you could find. While Kirk focuses on simplicity with musical sound, he ends up creating a very complex, genre spanning bluesy indie masterpiece.