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In the tradition of slow, dark, and wonderfully
melodious music, Molasses has crafted an album that
fits their name only too perfectly. On their fourth
release, Trouble at Jinx Hotel, (on alien8 recordings;
www.alien8recordings.com), this Montréal
ensemble creates a sonically enchanting masterpiece
full of whispery vocals and steel harmonies that
drip with images of sipping whiskey and saying prayers.
The group’s singer/songwriter guru, Scott
Chernoff, leads the sound with poetic swirlings
and elements of folk, old Americana, and a confessional
beauty kindred to the likes of Sam Beam, Elliot
Smith, Leonard Cohen, and Tom Waits. The group
includes members of the Shalabi Effect, Godspeed
You Black Emperor!, set fire to flames, as well
as several other bands.
Track 1, “Siren Song,” begins with
the haunting and heartrending sound of an Iraqi
air-raid siren, which howls like wild animals
closing in on your campfire and continues on sublimely
like the Hamburglar with a Bic Mac in his filthy,
gloved hands. Or maybe more like an old sea vessel
on a dark ocean. I think that’s definitely
what I meant. Tracks like “Saint Christopher’s
Blues,” are breathy and sultry, with tremolo
that weaves and wobbles to create a dark velvet
tapestry of sound. It makes me want to turn off
the lights, light a candle, and contemplate my
own heartbeat. “Sign of Judgement,”
a rendition of the 1930s Kid Prince Mooregospel,
is the sound of the deep south with sharp, dark
guitar plucks and steel harmonies in the backdrop,
like metallic ghosts whisking through old wooden
hallways.
Choral layers, eerie lullabies, ferocious blues,
vocal harmonies, train tracks and echoes, deserts
and betrayal, spooky interludes, and harmonious
dissonance. It’s all in this ten track,
thirteen-title composition that maintains a beautiful
darkness throughout its entirety. If you love,
or even like 16 Horsepower, please listen to this
album as soon as humanly possible.
Anne Ihilation, June 10, 2004
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