Search - Curlew :: Meet the Curlews

George Cartwright & Davy Williams are all that remain . . .

Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 10/13/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

". . . from the great Curlew groups of the past decade. Chris Parker on piano and Wurlitzer electric piano replaces guitarist Chris Cochrane. Fred Chalenor (bass) takes over for Ann Rupel. And Bruce Golden is the new drummer.The music is no less weird; just seeming somewhat more accessible. Actually, it's gotten weirder, sometimes downright scary ("Late December," with its strange sonic colors courtesy of Davy Williams' demented guitar, often doubled by George Cartwright's feathery tenor, and Chris Parker's highly odd pianistics); sometimes friendly-scary ("ARM," seeming close to normal, but featuring some more of Christ Parker's unique piano stylings, as well as inspired guitar distortion, all the while anchored by rock-solid drumming from Bruce Golden); sometimes just pretty ravishingly beautiful, but neverless embued with some bizarre underlying esthetic, accented by unintelligible distorted mumbling, just at the edge of aural sensation, betrayed by its title ("Hated"); sometimes just drop-dead gorgeous, though still haunted by aural strangeness ("Senisble Shoes/Proper Fit). Bottom line, even when they play it straight, it aint PERFECTLY straight. By all means, meet the Curlews; I just don't know if this is the ideal disc to make their acquaintence, seeing as it's such a sonic departure from their previous efforts."