Little Somebody Rec. Cloud Temple : Funeral Dirge ov thee crowe king- (US,2007)**°°
This album contains just three tracks, of which the head title also is the most immediately captivating one. It is a dramatic self-penned folk story and ballad. Here, John Miller sings in duet with himself while he accompanies some sweet guitar pickings with touches of percussion sometimes echoing a bit near some end of verses. At some dramatic points there are melancholic silences with percussive echoes with some additional effects, lingering on like energy dripping out of the song and words, spreading in its own nature into the environment, where a bit of baritone voice concludes with this, one and eternal. The kind of song and concept, with all its artwork and theme, is easily associated with some of the Stone Breath related releases. The story for me develops as if sung in an imprisoned head of a victim of circumstances, contemplating his actions from a tower, which moves like in a chess game in its order of dramatic events into the dashboard of life towards an inevitable checkmate. A wonderful conception. The shorter “Sleeping Breath” falls a bit in its shadow, mumblingly improvised with guitar and vocals on endlessly, loosing grip in tone and foundation. Also the vocals on the last track, “Behind Thee Silver Gate Ov Brenna” don’t come out focused enough well, so that the acoustic and electric guitar with mumbles becomes a bit too sad and blurry. But when the last bit improvises with drones, this develops well and organically to something to some dramatising effect of its own. We hear sounds based upon guitar metallic string sounds and slide effect experiments, that evolve improvised until the effects overwhelm experimentally.
Printed at 230 copies only.
