Atmosphere is one of the key ingredients to a truly intriguing work of art. This is especially true of music; my favorite jams are the ones that you can live in, as opposed to the ones where you feel you are just passing through.
A couple months back, my friend David Noriega posted a link to a track by his band Boveda called “Jam Sesh 9.10.10″. I was really struck by the languid psychedelics of it. Much like latter day Pocahaunted, it gave me the feeling of an exuberant improvisation between collaborators who were very much in sync. You get the sense of the gathering, and of each participant therein. Like Pocahaunted, when this Brooklyn-based four-piece comes together, the atmosphere is as thick as a slowly approaching thunder cloud.
From what I understand, all of Boveda’s music is improvisational; each song is a standalone event that is specific to the date of recording. The track below is titled “30 October 2010″, a date that is also known as mischief night. Whether or not the timing was intentional, this slow-building, sinister dirge is quite appropriate for the occassion. The combination of Jee Young Sim’s confrontational vocal delivery, the anxious drumbeat, and the haunting base line makes this track feel like a nighttime journey through an ominous marsh. You can live in this song, but it wont be a walk in the park. I was recently informed that most of the tracks I’ve heard from Boveda (including this one) were recorded onto an iPhone. Never thought that a handheld Apple product could contain so much atmosphere.
Boveda, “30 October 2010″
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Bethany Cosentino forme avec Amanda Brown Pocahaunted, duo de Los Angeles connu pour ses compositions longues, éthérées et presque méditatives. Sa musique est à la fois apaisante et anxieuse, et donne parfois l’impression d’être plongé dans un sommeil peuplé de rêves cauchemardesques. Entre une batterie conquérante, une guitare paisible et des voix rugissantes, Pocahaunted semble toujours palpiter, tendre et converger vers un univers sonique que l’on n’atteindra probablement jamais. Mais si l’on ne peut pas savoir où les filles de Pocahaunted nous emmènent, on peut au moins savoir d’où elles viennent.
