Hark!
Hamilton Yarns : The Show Boat, Over -12"- (UK,2006)***°
This LP has two different sides. Side one I like especially for its really odd collage of ultra-short intuitive multi-layered short evolutions of ideas with nice sounds combinations and with lots of changes that finds its way into the bigger composition and concept, which is successfully kept together logically, by an arranger and composer and the singer and song’s vision. All the seemingly random search-and-finds shorter story parts all follow the straight rhythmic evolution lines and the music and song structures, like with the general story, while the songs themselves are like readers of that logic, with brilliantly moving changes around it. At the time when this tale is being told, the rhythms often seem to fall apart once more, breaking into new ideas, renewing attention, that like in a chaotic environment, finds and collects new brilliance ideas that appear with this falling-out-of-the-closet percussion. One by one are here collected new minimal and steady beat points, like one note dripping, one-two-three clapping and with a bit of repetition. The cornet then brings on the most moody peaceful moments, and this works like opening up curtains to more colourfully rhythmically driven improvisations. This whole concept moves thoroughly, like in a ballet, and this with more improvisation on electric piano, guitar and percussion, until it recollects, like with the birth of a firebird -or in this case, out of the dust-, the formation of a real band feeling, which had until then remained hidden somewhere, under the ashes and sounds, first in an Edward Ka-Spell manner (vocals, background band, and with additional female vocalist), and then, at the point when a percussive washing board instrument rattles like a duck… with the full band, and with harmony vocals, more sounds in a Volcano The Bear/No Neck Blues Band/ Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra/.. way, in its final and most organised form. The whole evolution to this moment I found so brilliant, I still hope I will be able to airplay this whole LP-side.
The second side, is much more song based (solo and with dual vocals), while the minimal ideas (piano,..) used for the arrangements, mixed with the mood-makers (harmonica, cornet), are much more distinctive and slightly more rationally logic. The band sound also is clearer, like a pleasant acoustic chamber ensemble playing and accompanying more melodious arrangements. Some background sounds still show up, but there are only few nonsensical rhythmical sounds left.
The LP is limited to 500. I hope there will come a CD version later too.
