Second review this week, dear readers!
Despite the output, I am in a hypercritical mood of late, where it takes a lot more for an album to impress me, even albums I have previously hand-picked.
Disc 1596 is…. House of Confusion
Artist: Trace Mountains
Year of Release: 2021
What’s up with the Cover? A roadside advertisement. This looks like the kind of lonely stretch of some backroad where the cell coverage is terrible, but if you blow a tire ask for help at the Valley Mart, not the House of Confusion. The folks who live at the House of Confusion are probably a bunch of serial killers. Of course, it will turn out they also own the Valley Mart, so you’re screwed either way.
Happy Halloween!
P.S.: that scrolly bit in the bottom left is not part of the album art – that’s one of my hairs that got in the picture.
How I Came To Know It: I read a review of this album and checked it out, but I did not immediately buy it. I remember it being right on the edge of “good enough”. Then I was looking for something to order and it was on my list. I thought, “did I like this well enough to buy it?” and then I replied (thought-wise) with, “Logan, trust your instincts!”
How It Stacks Up: This is my only Trace Mountains album, so it can’t stack up
Ratings: 3 stars
My experience with “House of Confusion” had me thinking a lot of the name of the band. I imagine a “trace mountain” would be a place where you stake a gold claim because you get some early positive traces, but ultimately the mountain doesn’t pan out. “House of Confusion” is the musical equivalent of that experience. It starts off with a lot of promise but there ends up being less and less value as you dig your way in.
I’ve dabbled a few times in this kind of music, which is a sort of laid-back psychedelic indie country. Other examples are Honey Harper (Disc 1369) and Wild Pink (Sir Not Yet Appearing on this Blog). The structures are folk/country but the tunes tend to have a lot of extra production. Long-time readers will know this usually puts me off, but I’m willing to forgive it when done well.
So how does “House of Confusion” fare? Initially, very well. The first three songs are the album’s best. The opening track “Seen it Coming” showcases the airy quaver of Dave Benton’s voice (Dave Benton is Trace Mountains’ driving creative force and lead singer). This song has a lovely lilting melody that I’m always a sucker for, and the arrangement has a bit of odd organ here and there that is well placed and provides good dynamics.
“If You Do” and “On My Knees” follow it well, with Benton’s voice again front and centre, and with a bit more orchestration but again, serving the song well. “On My Knees” also has some lovely snare drum action that would make early Wilco proud.
By the fourth song, “7 Angels” Benton has delved even deeper into the soup and is approaching Wild Pink sound (although maybe one level down, as no one does this particular sound quite like Wild Pink). It, “The Moon” and “IDK” are all good tunes, despite the latter being an annoying texting abbreviation. Use your words, Dave!
Around Track 7 things start to go south, however. “The Late” is a melancholy soundscape that is both maudlin and directionless. I can handle maudlin, but directionless is harder to forgive. At this point Benton is deep into the electronica sounds, which don’t add anything nor cover up the fact that the melody here has lost some of the record’s early magic.
This is followed by “America” which has a weird sample of someone saying “America!” that is jarring and adds nothing to the song. This song hovers on the edge of being a good tune, but can’t overcome this kind of self-aware studio decisions.
There is a late rally near the end, and “Eyes on the Road” recaptures the album’s earlier magic, but it is too late to score above a modest three stars overall.
And before I sum up a quick note on a pet peeve of mine. The back of the record has a list of the songs but a) doesn’t list a track number, forcing you to count down to find the one you want and b) are presented in some artsy font that is almost impossible to discern. You are listing these tracks so people can look up the songs, Trace Mountains, so maybe make it actually easy for them to read when you do so.
My final listen to “House of Confusion” was on headphones, and its ambient vibe definitely sounds better in that experience than in the car. In the end, that and some of the early nuggets were enough for me to decide to keep the record
Best tracks: Seen It Coming, If You Do, On My Knees
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