BEHIND THE BEND

Following releases of a single in 2008 and both a live and a full-length album the following year, apparently Lisa o Piu felt the need to throw an EP into the mix. While their label refers to 'Behind the Bend' as a "mini-album", it's less-than thirty minute duration sounds like an EP to me, regardless of label.

Musically the band manages to show some new moves, although the album is not consistent and there are a couple tracks that simply perpetuate the (mostly acoustic) lazy psych folk vibe that characterized about half of their original studio release.

The band wisely opened with "Was it the Moon", an earthy number that meanders along with no more energy or direction than any other psych-folk song. But there are subtle improvements over the band's early work, beginning with more well-enunciated vocals and overdubs with better sound separation as well. The casual and complementary placement of zither, violin, clarinet and acoustic strumming arrangements give this mellow tune a more distinctive character than most of what the band had recorded prior.

It doesn't take long to drop back into old habits though, with the instrumentation of "Simplicity" being an example of just that, although Lisa Isaksson's vocals once again show she has studied a few Kate Bush albums in her young life. "Dream of Goats" is basically more of the same, though the overall sound reminds me considerably of Mellow Candle circa the early seventies.

Following a brief zither recital titled "World Falling Down", the band launches into their most ambitious effort to-date, at least in terms of length and complexity. The twelve minute "Child of Trees" opens with a soothing instrumental passage consisting of acoustic guitar, harp, glockenspiel, piano and a touch of chimes before a brief but sensual clarinet transition introduces Isaksson's vocal recitation. Structurally this is the same sort of stuff the band has been making for a few years, but the song takes an interesting sort of almost post rock-like turn with a tonal fadeout before reconvening behind the glock, plucky guitar and eventually an extended guitar/sitar combination accented by mellotron bleating, chimes and random cymbals. The whole thing works quite well, especially when Isaksson picks up her flute and joins the fray. She resumes singing in the last couple of minutes, bringing the composition mostly back to where it began in the fading few seconds. This is one I would love to see performed in an intimate live setting.

Carrying on with more of a slight post-rock feel, the band closes with "Gong for Hours (Jupiter's Under the Moon)", a song that takes almost a minute to get going and, when it does get going, takes shape with some sort of drone instrument and just a touch of feedback, chimes, a gong of some sort and finally a fadeout, all without actually going much of anywhere. Not the most original or ambitious song, but a decent enough follow-on to the folksy flight of the prior tune.

I wish the band had taken the time to put together enough new material for a full-length album, but what they did manage to record is decent, though except for "Was it the Moon" and "Child of Trees" most of what's here is not noteworthy. I'm going to say this is a three star effort anyway, though not quite to the level of either of their 2009 releases which I would recommend as a starting point for those not familiar with the group's music.

peace