Search - Califone :: Roots & Crowns

Very easy to love

Clancy | 01/29/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Full disclosure: I am a very big fan of this band's music. That said, this is their most accessible and easiest to love album to date. I struggle to say it's their best, only because Quicksand/Cradlesnakes is so stellar. One reviewer below insists it's easy to like, but hard to love. Oddly enough, I have the opposite opinion.



For any fan of ambient sounds, interesting arrangements, and evocative, textured instruments, I highly recommend this band's work. Throw Roots & Crowns on in the background a few times, and soon enough you'll be reaching for the case (or maximizing your iTunes window) to see which song it is that you're so drawn to. Before long, you will love this album. I have trouble finding the words to explain exactly why this music seeps so deeply into my brain.



If you are on the fence, listen to "The Orchids", "3 Legged Animals" and "Sunday Noises". If you like them, you will love this album. The songs vary from quiet, delicate, hypnotic tunes like "Our Kitten Sees Ghosts" to lilting, horn infused mid-tempo numbers like "Spider's House". If this is your first exposure to Califone, and you are typically drawn to more immediately accesible alt-folk like Wilco, don't throw this album on and expect it to wow you with clever lyrics and catchy choruses. Let it seep in gradually. After a few turns, you won't want to stop listening. It is infectious."

If Joseph Cornell's boxes could sing . . .

M. L. Williams | Georgia | 10/26/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"they'd sound like this, narratives blown like an old transmission, parts clinking along the pavement, underwires pinging and cupping lasciviously, all sweet blues and sweeter decay. If you're familiar, Calfone improves on their already remarkable range, lacing horns into the loops, pulling a gem out of Psychic TV's catalog with "The Orchids." If you're not familiar, it helps if you like the slow surprise of a junk drawer opening, scraps of paper scrawled in pencil, that bolt you need, that tiny photo of someone you used to know. The lyrics are poems, the songs sublime."

Wow.

Antiquity | USA | 11/07/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This could be my favorite album of the year. It is a mature, unique album that contains brilliant songs structured in subtle, complex ways, with melodies weaving between simple acoustic strumming and electronic interference. This is an album best enjoyed in a quiet room alone, with headphones to fully appreciate. I haven't heard any of their other albums, so I cannot compare it to their past work. In fact, I cannot say exactly who I would compare them to. Maybe Iron and Wine meets Tom Waits. But who cares, it is a great album and will no doubt be a fine addition to your collection. Give it a couple of spins when you are really listening, and I think you will agree."