All
Music Guide Review:
This split CD arose from a cross-collaboration
between Christian Kiefer and Above the Orange Trees' Jeff Pitcher
on their respective 2002 releases. For The Inexplicable Falling,
they each contributed a half-hour of new music, including a cover
from each other's songbook. Things kick off with ATOT's rendition
of Kiefer's touching ballad "Erendira." Pitcher, committed
to ornate and complicate the simple melody, doesn't match the
intensity of the original version released on Welcome to Hard
Times. Five new songs by Pitcher and co. follow. The rather upbeat
"Asleep on the Bedroom Floor" provides the sole light
moment of the CD. The songs grow gradually darker and more emotional,
moving away from alt-rock and toward post-folk, hitting a delicate
peak in "For a Ride" and culminating in "I Am Nowhere,"
a depressive piano ballad that has forgotten ATOT somewhere along
the way, leaving Pitcher alone and naked to set the table for
what comes next. Kiefer picks up the glove, unfolding through
the next seven tracks a revised reading of the 16th century folk
ballad "The House Carpenter." More stripped-down and
bleak in style than the offerings on his debut album, these songs
showcase his vocals over acoustic guitar, banjo, piano, and pump
organ (one at a time). Kiefer hints at '60s folk, bluegrass, emo,
and more, his melodies and delivery evoking in turn Phil Ochs,
Radiohead, and Peter Hammill. The set ends with a ferocious rendition
of Pitcher's "Sorry My Love" where the escalation in
intensity is well underlined. This album will probably better
satisfy Kiefer fans waiting for his next songwriter album than
the more experimental and ambient Exodust (nevertheless very good,
by the way).
~ Review by François Couture
Acquarius Records Review:
A split cd between Christian Kiefer
and Jeff Pitcher's project Above the Orange Trees. Both musicians
add to the canon of super sad singer songwriters: Jeff Pitcher's
completely heartbroken songs are lushly melodic and quietly epic,
bringing to mind Joel Phelps (ex-Silkworm) and Talk Talk; while
Christian Kiefer's tracks are even more anguished than Pitcher's
(if that's even possible), similar to the stillness of Low, the
warm earthiness of Mark Kozelek, and the macabre twang of Songs:Ohia
and Will Oldham/Palace. The artists also each contribute a cover
of one of the others songs. Depressing in a good way.
Notes from time of recording:
This one is fresh. Still wet with
dew from the cold brought on by nightfall. I will not explain
the title. You think it doesn’t need explaining, but it
does. Still, no. There is only one person who would truly understand,
and she’s no longer around. So I remember quite well the
night Christian and I met. I knew immediately that this man would
be in my life for good. During our first phone conversation, I
sat on my old, ugly, couch in my duplex on Arthur Street, feeling
permanence. I’ve no recollection of what we talked about,
but it was effortless. The history was already there. We had covered
all the fragile ground in some past life. Or something like that.
So this record has always been there too, ’twas just a matter
of pulling it from the tightly clenched teeth of the past. We
spoke of such a thing for years, and finally it just fell upon
us. Like mortality. I cannot really explain how honored I am to
share a record with Christian. I think he is brilliant. I mean
that. Words not to be taken lightly. His lyrics are the first
that have ever truly compared to those of Morrissey, whom is in
my opinion, the best lyricist ever. Period. And Christian’s
songwriting possesses a depth and honesty that is so strong, I
sometimes can’t even seem to wrap my hands around it. Fucking
amazing. I won’t explain what his half of the record is
about. Ask him. Mine? Dana Dana Dana Dana Dana. The original title
in my head was "the disintegration of bone", being a
metaphor about the demise of human relationships. It begins with
my interpretation of his song “Erendira”. It was really
difficult for me to decide which song of his I wanted to cover,
but in the end this one just wouldn’t let me say no. It
seemed perfect. I remember listening to it for the first time
as Dana sat on the couch reading. The rest of the songs are about
her. Although I confess that there are little parts in “for
a ride” about my friend Rob.
If you listen closely to the beginning
of that song, there is a high pitched dinging noise... it’s
this thing out at the Berkeley pier that I can hear from my bedroom.
I wanted to document a piece of the landscape where I was living
when making this record. Somehow poignant since I’ve now
been kicked out of this house and will move in a week. Anyway,
Dana and I used to sit on the couch and sing “for a ride”
together. She always felt like her voice was weak, but I thought
it was one of the most beautiful things in the world. I don’t
think she believed me. She sang to me acapella a couple of times,
and those memories are absolutely priceless. She often underestimated
herself. “What about Dana” was written and recorded
in an hour shortly after I moved from a tent into a sublet for
the summer. We added stuff to it at Ron’s.
With the exception of that and
the last song, we recorded it all at his house. His friend Torston
helped turn knobs. He was so sweet. A few days before Thanksgiving
Dana was on my mind. I had just finished reading “Memoirs
of a Geisha”, and couldn’t stop thinking of her, so
I called. Only to discover that she really was gone. Completely.
Living with Ryan. They’re married now.
“I am nowhere” was written
spontaneously on the day after Thanksgiving while I was housesitting
at this terribly creepy, and most definitely haunted, (Kristina
agrees) house up in the woods. The vacant part of me where she
used to live felt so overwhelmingly pained. I made the lyrics
up as I recorded. I kept fucking up the piano part, for it was
so difficult to play and sing at the same time. I had to do it
in one take, for all I had was a minidisc and a mic. I finally
got it around 3am. Which I suppose was best, as I was terrified
of going to sleep there anyway. In some of the earlier versions,
you could hear the fire crackling and dogs’ paws on wood
floors. As for the rest of the players on the disc, I am confounded
about what to write. I have such love for Ron and Kristina as
people and musicians, and am so grateful for their presence in
my life, that it seems impossible to type anything. They are perfect.
They are who I’ve waited all of these years for. They are
my new religion and the center of my earth. Really. They are the
band I’ve dreamed of. We are like family. We spent some
time trying to find a drummer for the recording and Eddie just
sort of drifted in, played the most wonderful parts I could have
imagined, and drifted out.
His energy was so positive
and filled with light. I so wish that he hated jazz, and just
wanted to be in our band. And Sarah again. I couldn’t thank
her enough. So gifted and full of life. Her sweet soul gentle,
like a willow tree fluttering. Someone heard the disc recently
and asked if I was ok. Yes. I feel amazing. So alive. I feel electric
and unstoppable, like a superhero. This was my catharsis. This
was my sleep. This was my year of everything turning upside down
and landing on its feet. This was my history. And now this is
yours. “Just like a gift from God”.
TRACK LISTING
1. Erendira
2. Asleep
on the Bedroom Floor (click to listen to the MP3)
3. The Wasting of Words
4. For a Ride
(click to listen to the MP3)
5. What About Dana
6. I Am Nowhere
CHRISTIAN
KIEFER
7. Carpenter
8. Oyster
9. Radium
10. Timbuktu
11. The Curtain Hits the Cast
12. Original
13. With Fishes
14. Sorry My Love |
