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Laughing Eye Weeping Eye : Where Snakes & Seers Go (US,2011)****
Chicago’s band Laughing Eye Weeping eye introduces themselves on the singer’s website “’Laughing Eye Weeping Eye performances are akin to watching a vaudevillian story-teller in a medieval church with gospel singers, gnomes and goats. Bandmates in a lifetime and gurus in another, Chicagoans Rebecca Schoenecker and Patrick Holbrook create a multi-faceted experience that incorporates harmonium, looped vocals, toy instruments, visuals and effects. Inspired by folk music and spiritual singing, LEWE creates songbooks for audience members so that they may sing along. On occasion, the bliss of this act has led to sing in tongues.” This is not exaggerated but describes well the music. Most of the tracks are led by harmonium and we hear weird vocal harmonies that are only slightly weird in attractive proportions, so that this sounds warm and friendly to the ear. With a bit of handclaps or Christmas jingle bell percussion, an occasional trumpet or zither or a Cajun violin and so, it is true some of it tends to joy in an intimate feast that resembles fire circle gatherings, with here and there a dance around the circle, whenever a spontaneous gospel association rings in the mind, it is also contributive (-the last track “Kumbaya” for instance, a song with Afro-Christian origins-), at times the voices begin to tremble together and form overtones and shamanic inspirations. This is created from a special, rather magical atmosphere, which is held strongly and similarly throughout the album. LP with CD release.
