Blitzen Trapper have earned a handful of fans in their native Portland, Ore., for their playful, ADD-like songs, but their sophomore effort shouldn't be dismissed as fluff-- Field Rexx is an earnest crack at bluegrass, country, and folk that's young and brazen enough to incorporate elements from multiple genres.
The album opens with a brief honky-tonkin' interlude and "Lux and Royal Shopper", which adds some crunch to a cluttered, Rouge Wave-esque modern take on folk. "Love I Exclaim!" puts anemic good-time country over funky breakbeats, and is one of the album's most ingratiating moments, but the early peak is the gentle, spaced-out ballad "Summer Twin". That track leaps into the aptly self-described "freak-pop" on its chorus, which is all referee whistles and chicken-scratch guitars. Several different musical elements-- howling rock, acoustic plucking, electronic percussion, harpsichord-- pop in and out of its simple melodies, but the lo-fi production lends it a sonic cohesion.
On the record's second half, the songs become more traditional and their arrangements more homogenous, but they're just as worthwhile. "Concrete Heaven" is equal parts Willie Nelson and the shambling folk experiments of Beck's One Foot in the Grave, its lyrics alternating between evocative and goofy (from "Paper cups and cigarette butts left in the sink" to "I'm still walkin' around in rainbow-colored thongs"). They play the wide-eyed AM pop of "Asleep for Days" comfortably and convincingly, and the chorus of "40 Stripes" recalls CSN&Y.
"Dirty Pearls" is a speedy, competent bluegrass number, but the last few songs lack the strong melodies and quirk of the bulk of the album. Quirkiness isn't the main selling point of Field Rexx, however-- it simply has a healthy sense of variation. There's a lot of disparate, whimsical sonic elements in the disc's earlier songs, and they're tastefully incorporated, but most of the memorable twists and turns are provided the old-fashioned way, like the subtle guitar lead in "Summer Twin". On Field Rexx, Blitzen Trapper may not take the same chances as other genre-bending artists, but nor do they strive to. It simply (and successfully) aims a back-porch country/folk album for left-of-the-dial tastes.
