The (glowing) Barnacled review. 1 select CD from a 3 part tour set.

By Cyrus Leddy

This Barnacled CD I'm reviewing begins on a misleading note, with the extremely entertaining and aptly named "Cloud Pump". It is the song on the album with the most structural integrity, beginning with drumsticks on a staccato snare rim followed, cheerfully, by a cheerful sounding bari-sax. It's goofy. You can hear an accordion pumping along, and it's goofy. The whole thing sounds like fun. And this tricks the listener into thinking that this is the sort of music to expect on the rest of the album. That this will be a bouncy clown music album. To play at parties. But then the clown music stops. And the baritone sax never sounds "cheerful" again.

The rest of the album kinda squeals. It drones, held together with synth-noise and a lot of really depressing pauses, pauses that a broken suddenly by a scream, a rim-crack, or a wedding march for the blind and deaf. And all the while, and in the interim, you can hear the saxophone squeaking pathetically in the background. Party's over.

It is on a lot of these songs that the accordion kinda acts as bookends for the music, shaping and holding the discord in while giving the listener a tangible (but subtle) melody to follow along to. And then coming out front to lead the way in a drag your drunken partner (who you don't even like) across the dance floor waltz. It's really sad.

Barnacled has been called "jazz."

But I would compare all this to jazz only in the way that it creates a mood for the listener (a mood which I won't describe because it's sure to be different for everyone and I am not smart enough to put into words). And the songs are long, like with jazz and jump from idea-to-idea in a way that makes you forget what you were just listening to, you're so caught up in what's going on. But then later, (all of a sudden, walking around) you find that you can remember whole lines of music. That's jazz.

But you know, it really sucks that I only own 1 part of this 3 part live CD because while this album holds up on it's own, at it’s end I was left with the very real feeling that the band hadn't finished expressing itself. (a feeling that was probably influenced by the fact that I know that there are 2 other albums out there) But I was also left with the idea that this was a band that could be abstract and weird, and still be some kinda interesting. I'm not bored. I want more. (finally)

(if you too "want more" or have been made interested by this review, go see Barnacled the next time you hear they are playing and buy this CD, or look forward (desperately) to a full-length Barnacled album due out in the late late fall of 2002)