Weinland...La Lamentor(2008)[FLAC]

1 God Here I Come
2 Sick as a Gun
3 The Devil in Me
4 Gold
5 Curse of the Sea
6 All To Yourself
7 For Land, For Love, For Time
8 Desiree
9 With You Without You
10 La Lamentor
11 In This The End

Weinland makes folk music. If that term has lost all meaning IΓÇÖll put it this way: The first sound we hear on the album is an acoustic guitar, which is followed in time by a cello, banjo, mandolin, dobro, and a handful of un-folky instruments I wonΓÇÖt list. However, unlike, say Iron & WineΓÇÖs latest, WeinlandΓÇÖs strength lies in the consistency in which it explores a genre and sound that wonΓÇÖt seem all that unfamiliar to anyone whoΓÇÖs been around the musical block a few times. ThereΓÇÖs a strength in establishing a sound and theme on track one and carrying it through the entire album, slowly building on whatΓÇÖs already been revealed, and sticking with a melodic core.



Rating:
ΓÇ£Folk lullabyΓÇ¥ proves to be a good descriptor for WeinlandΓÇÖs music. ThereΓÇÖs a strong sense of progression that the album gives as it occasionally lets its characteristically quiet songs stray from structured patterns and instead goes after something more suited to the image that the word ΓÇ£lullabyΓÇ¥ conveys, that is, music that has its share of mountains and plateaus. The best case in point is the rambling, six-minute ΓÇ£GoldΓÇ¥, where the bandmates play around with the melody while hitting a series of ascendant points along the way that prove to be subtly thrilling around the fourth or fifth time you hear the song.

An atmosphere of sickness and disease manifested in mental illness is perhaps WeinlandΓÇÖs strongest thematic impression. ΓÇ£WeΓÇÖre half way home/When you turn on the radio/I feel alone/When you turn off the radio there is no where I can go/Maybe thereΓÇÖs someone else/Someone to take care of me so I donΓÇÖt have to love myselfΓÇ¥ Shearer sings on the albumΓÇÖs best song, the near folk-rocker (replete with wicked banjo riffs!) ΓÇ£Sick as a Gun.ΓÇ¥

There are some problems, however: La Lamentor is strong and cohesive but is somewhat lacking in the highlights department, and songwriter and vocalist James Adam Weinland ShearerΓÇÖs (yes, I believe thatΓÇÖs his full name) voice canΓÇÖt compare with, say, the powerful whisper of Sam Beam, although the more you get into the album the more the passion behind ShearerΓÇÖs voice makes it quite unnecessary to iwish someone else was singing. La Lamentor surpasses its potential to be disposable by weaving its melodies together into a discernible moldΓÇöthe result is an album thatΓÇÖs both refreshing and enchantingly cohesive.

cd ripped by EAC

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