Before
riding his bicycle across the United States in the summer of 2004,
Jefferson Pitcher’s band Above the Orange Trees recorded
twenty-two songs about the notion of home. As it turns out, this
was the end of the band. Jefferson was married at the end of the
trip and moved to a small village of 700 people in Ontario, Canada,
where the snow fell and fell and fell. Five years, one son, and
four cities later, The Residue is complete. Half of the songs
were cut, and what remains are the remains of Above the Orange
Trees.
Produced and mixed by Ron Guensche, Christian Kiefer, and Jefferson
Pitcher, the record walks the line between the giant, orchestral,
indie-rock Above the Orange Trees was known for and explores a
quieter side of songwriting that happens when people write music
alone. Pitcher is joined on this recording by jazz great, Scott
Amendola on drums, Christian Kiefer on acoustic instruments, Kristina
Forester on piano and organ, and Ron Guensche on bass.
Similar to Above the Orange Trees songs on compilations from Tract
Records, and Words On Music, The Residue is layered with dense
and melodic electric guitars, and Brian Eno laden ambience. The
residue begins with Pitcher singing of his grandfather's death
as the first step in a journey from the familiar. He then examines
the nostalgia inherent in the loss of home and the myriad ways
that we deal with life's changing tide. Themes and influences
from authors like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jim Harrison, Jane Urquhart,
and Federico Garcia Lorca all rear their heads in this project
full of literary reference.
The songs grow from a quiet beginning on "The Edges of the
Earth" reminiscent of Damien Rice, moving through bigger
arrangements and Sonic Youth inspired guitar freakouts, until
we reach Pitcher alone with an acoustic guitar on “Perfect
Man,” where he sings “I am offering my secrets for
you to tear down…”. At the end of the collection,
the listener finds themselves contemplating unrequited dreams
in “Boats on a Hill,” with its Sigur Ros-like wall
of guitar ending, and the record finishes with the beautiful and
dreamy lullaby titled, “On a Train in Germany,” which
could easily have been pulled from a lush Cure record.
It is in the quiet and contemplative end of this record, where
Above the Orange Trees say goodbye. We are carried into the other
world on a train drifting and gliding through the German countryside,
a quiet farewell, hinting at earlier work from the band's record
titled I am not in Spain, which garnered comparison to Ennio Morricone
and Calexico. The record ends with Pitcher singing “we will
sleep our lives away,” his voice falling into the guitars.
Pitcher has since gone on to release solo work on Camera Obscura
Records, Standard Recording Company, and Digitalis Recordings,
leaving behind this last document of his work with Above the Orange
Trees.
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