The Anomoanon
The Anomoanon
[Palace]
Rating: 7.7
Man, these musical families can be pretty fucked up. The Wilsons, the Jacksons,
the Osmonds-- all have reached high enough levels of scandal and interest to
warrant poorly-acted TV miniseries. Now, I'm not privy to the inner workings
of the Oldham musical clan, but I doubt we can expect to see part one of The
Oldhams on ABC any time soon. Sure, brother Will sings songs about drugs,
screwed up relationships, and sodomizing everything under the sun. But those
are just songs. To meet the publicity requirements necessary for a six-hour
block on primetime, you need a genuinely screwed up family dynamic. And, in
terms of outward appearances, the Oldhams seem a surprisingly functional unit.
Brothers Will, Paul, and Ned tour together, record together, and produce each
other's records. It's all very Disney, aside from the songs about cocks.
Whether or not the Oldham family are "Seventh Heaven" material, they sure have
managed to turn out a bunch of kickass records over the past decade, due in no
small part to the laidback, familial tone that's practically become a trademark.
This, the first full-length from Ned Oldham's Anomoanon project that doesn't
center around the interpretation of children's classics, is another fine record
in the Oldham tradition of slightly country-inflected folk-rock. All those
Oldham signatures-- shaky vocal harmonies, sloppy lead guitar, persistent
mid-tempos-- are here in abundance.
"Going to the Sea" opens The Anomoanon on a pleasant, sing along-y note.
Ned Oldham's voice, which will be familiar to those of you with any old Palace
Brothers records, has all the quiver of Neil Young with none of the nasal whine,
making it both expressive and listenable. This track, like the rest of the
album's better tracks, achieves an instantly likable laid-back groove, like a
porchfront family jam session with flawless, crisp production.
Sadly, the sheer goodness of "Going to the Sea" is not to be frequently matched.
The next track, "Flock," sees the band indulging too greatly in their loose
approach to writing and recording. Aram Stith does his best to keep the song
afloat with twangy lead guitar, but when the Oldhams lose track of the song
itself and slip into an aimless jam session, it's more akin to a Phish concert
than authentic backwoods Appalachian folk.
Since The Anomoanon is a fairly coherent album, the primary elements
separating each track come down to subtle songwriting elements. "Window (I
Can't See Past The)," the record's best track, pairs a sufficiently diverse
song structure with a hauntingly beautiful melody, ranking among the better
tracks in the Palace catalog. Sadly, the rest of The Anomoanon has
trouble finding such focus.
When all is said and done, The Anomoanon is a damned solid folk-rock
record. But unlike past offerings from the Brothers Palace, it ends the minute
the music stops. There's no ethereal murmur, no haunting whisper to stay with
you and extend the album's reach beyond five inches of plastic. Still, it's
clear that The Anomoanon isn't meant to be the kind of intense listening
experience we've come to expect from these guys. Instead, it's the sound of
friends and brothers loosening up, knocking a couple back, and enjoying what
they do best. Not exactly miniseries material, but certainly the makings of a
good record.
-Matt LeMay