Tamer Animals, the sophomore release from the Stillwater, Okla., five-piece Other Lives, is meticulously written and arranged and, at times, vividly cinematic. In the wrong hands, this music could feel labored or overstuffed, but thanks to the makeshift orchestra's shaggy ringleader, Jesse Tabish, these wistful Americana-styled tracks (influenced by Tabish favorites Sigur Rós and Godspeed You! Black Emperor) rarely feel forced. Instead of the big studio sound of their self-titled debut, Tamer Animals feels organic and lovingly crafted, a record whose lushness often invites you to simply collapse into it.
Other Lives fits nicely with the pastoral richness of Fleet Foxes (whose influence is felt in the vocal harmony arrangements here) and the elegantly wasted music of Kurt Vile. On "Landforms", crestfallen strings swell with Tabish singing about the "oceans and plains," and you can almost taste the salted air. The dark, hymn-like "Weather" is similarly visual, but prophetic and baleful. "The sun is getting closer to the world," sings Tabish, clearly not talking about soaking up rays.
Tabish has enlisted a group of players that holds these intricate pieces in place. It's not as if the songs here feel heavy or overloaded-- in fact, most of them are positively buoyant, thanks to the richly colored interplay of all the instruments and the spacious production. Nearly every member pulls double and triple duty on cellos, violins, clarinets, keys, trumpets, and drums, and in a live setting, the band constantly shifts and repositions to hit every mark. On record, these professional assets come through even stronger.
Still, Tamer Animals isn't without its flaws, the quality of the vocals chief among them. For something so painstakingly made, it's strange that most vocal takes-- including some of those terrific harmonies-- sound oddly flattened. On an album about leaving behind the things you love, this seems like one element Other Lives should've made more of an effort with, as the pained stoicism in Tabish's voice doesn't always match the grandiosity of the music.
But that grandiosity makes it feel as if Other Lives are coming from a million different directions at once. "Old Statues" has the whispery endlessness of a spaghetti western soundtrack; the string draws nicked from Radiohead's "How to Disappear Completely" impart a deeply haunted vibe to the provincial lope of "For 12"; "Woodwind" channels the magical spook of a Grimm fairytale. Even if the emotional intent often feels recycled from other records, Tamer Animals is a record that takes you places.
