Vetiver was chosen to lead off Devendra Banhart's Golden Apples of the Sun compilation, the modern folk equivalent of landing a single on Top of the Pops. But its song, "Angel's Share", was summarily blown from ken by Joanna Newsom's "Bridges and Balloons"-- by many accounts the national anthem of freak-folk. On the LP front, the quartet came up short, too: Its eponymous debut trumped products from Cocorosie, White Magic, and Josephine Foster, but lost publicity to critical darlings Espers and Iron & Wine. Having Banhart on guitar wasn't the boon you'd expect either: Judging by reactions to late-year solo bid Nino Rojo, the gangly dynamo couldn't escape the shadow of his own Rejoicing in the Hands, much less curry favor for Andy Cabic and co.
A year later, the freak-folk radicals are trying a softened stance. Six Organs' School of the Flower, a spindly psych jamboree, may cling with both hands to weird '04, but forthcoming releases from Banhart and Animal Collective come lathered and rinsed. Between finds Vetiver, once conservative by comparison, in perfect consonance with the gang-- and the band hardly had to change a thing.
Brevity is Between's greatest asset: With no standout tracks, the five-song EP is best swallowed whole for a quick, mild sedative. Cabic's elegiac vox are also a strong selling point; they sound pressed on to the mix, flushed with a ferric patina. But Cabic needs an assertive hook to step up to meet him. Instead, his backup-- mainly an acoustic guitar and quiet percussion-- pitter-patters along, serviceable but indifferent.
Fat with reverbed guitars and wafting fiddle, "Belles" has by far the richest instrumental backdrop. Don't expect variegation, but it sure is pleasant. "Been So Long" dips into Wonder Years schmaltz and comes up with the album's sweetest vocal hook, while "Save Me a Place" is all starry campfire strum. "Busted (Brokedown Version)" takes it a step further, imagining the curdling marshmallow on a stick. It's almost atavistic-- those warped, sylvan coos sound so 2004.
So here Vetiver releases this satisfactory summer holdover while freak-folk takes a well-deserved snooze. When it awakes, it's Banhart, AC, and Cocorosie with new albums, on which hang more-or-less Sisyphean expectations. Maybe that'll clear the air for Vetiver's next LP, and it'll be Andy Cabic's turn to shine.
