Songs: Ohia
Ghost Tropic
[Secretly Canadian]
Rating: 7.5
Will Oldham has a doppelganger of sorts in James Molina, the singer-songwriter
behind Songs: Ohia. No, Molina hasn't been known to sport a Marxian beard, and
he's long since ditched his multiple monikers. But he has a few other things
in common with Oldham, alt-folk's reigning Prince of Darkness. Consider the
following: in 1996, Molina released a single on the Palace imprint; he now
consistently records with a rotating cast of musicians; and Ghost Tropic
was Molina's second full-length release of 2000 (The Lioness came
earlier in the year).
But the connection runs deeper. Molina also plays hushed, somber folk music,
usually with sparse instrumentation. His lyrics, while more personal, are
nearly as poetic and dark. Then, of course, the most obvious comparison: the
fragile voice. Generally speaking, Molina's pipes are cleaner than Oldham's--
a fact that becomes particularly apparent during those rare high notes. But
when low-key, his voice sounds disconcertingly similar. Thus, given that since
1999's Axxess & Ace-- his highwatermark thus far-- Molina has become
subtler and even more subdued, and his voice has moved closer in nature to
Oldham's. On Ghost Tropic, where Molina's voice is now similarly broken,
the difference would be indistinguishable to the untrained ear.
The comparison between Molina and Oldham has been made time and again, and is
probably as sickening to Songs: Ohia's fans as it is to him. But there's a
reason I insist on making the tired comparison: never before has it been more
apt. Ghost Tropic, the band's fifth proper full-length, makes even
The Lioness seem, at the very least, content. For his version of "I See
a Darkness"-- or rather, "I See a Heart of Darkness"-- Molina again enlisted
Alasdair Roberts of Appendix Out, who also played on The Lioness, as
well as members of Lullaby for the Working Class. Their influence, though,
goes sadly undetectable.
Ghost Tropic was recorded at Dead Space Recording Studio in Lincoln,
Nebraska, but sounds as though it were recorded live in a haunted hut
somewhere in an Ecuadorian rainforest. At night. Take, for instance, the
opener, "Lightning Risked It All," which begins with wooden percussion, a
sparse acoustic wrenched out of tune after each note, and the lines, "Still
no guides/ It's not a generous world/ It is a separate world/ The bad luck
taste of the dark/ The broad luck of blood on the water." But these words
aren't delivered with any rapidity: you're given enough time between each
line to consider eternity. A random kickdrum might snap you back to reality,
as might subtly increasing percussion. Or you might continue wandering off,
set further adrift by the increasingly restless wooden clacks that sound like
water dripping in puddles.
The rest of the album isn't much different, with the bulk of its tracks rarely
progressing from where they begin. South American percussion usually offers
tempered accompaniment along with a thunderous piano, both of which are
occasionally complimented by a Spanish guitar, pedal steel, glockenspiel,
eerie keyboard-chorus or shrill triangle. And Molina's voice inevitably
enters in, usually after the one-minute mark, to deliver, in a death-bed rasp,
lines such as, "Death as it shook you/ You gave it a fool's look/ You said I
am an empty page to you" ("The Body Burned Away"), or, "Simply to live, that
is my plan/ In a city that breaks us/ I will say nothing" ("No Limits on the
Words").
But what really holds the album together-- perhaps better than the choice of
instruments, lyrics, or Molina's voice-- are the tropical birds. Unlike, say,
Phish or Quasi, Molina doesn't tactlessly plop a mess of birds in the middle
of his album. Instead, birdsong slides in now and then, reminding you where
you are (the tropics, fool). Only occasionally do the chirps reach a cacophony,
as on the two instrumental tracks entitled "Ghost Tropic," where the birds
sound as though they've been awaked by the unsettling music emanating from
the hut.
None of the eight tracks that comprise Ghost Tropic are true songs.
They're more like movements that make up the larger whole of the album, which
acts as a 51-minute song. There are no tangible choruses; at best, you'll hear
a couple lines repeated two or three times. In short, this is a mood piece. As
such, it'll suit your needs perfectly at times, and incompletely at others.
The two 12-minute tracks that essentially end the album-- separated only by
one of the short instrumentals-- won't seem long enough for you one day, and
will be horrendously sluggish and repetitive on another. It's like watching a
Brita filter a liter of water: sometimes you're too damn thirsty to wait, so
you give in to tap water; other times you hold out, knowing that your patience
will make the experience entirely satisfying.
-Ryan Kearney