An opening phrase like "silver gnomes all in my dome" could signify the start of a game of D&D; or a record of progressive rock-- or, well, maybe Carey Mercer clearing his syrupy throat. Frog Eyes shouldn't be accused of front-loading their releases, but even without conjuring gnomes and cups filled with blood, their openers shine extravagantly bright. The Bloody Hand's "Sound Travels From the Snow to the Dark" alchemically transforms David Bowie's "Spaceman" into an earthy power ballad, and The Golden River is jumpstarted by "One in Six Children Will Flee in Boats", an acoustic-to-baroque dustpan anthem.
Since The Bloody Hand, Frog Eye's 2002 debut, Mercer's brainy Ziggy Stardust-meets-Where the Wild Things Are sound has proven maddeningly inspired. Mercer attacks each syllable in his gothic libretto with such gusto that even if he wasn't saying anything interesting his exuberance would still be enough to draw a crowd. Lucky for those of us who dig language, he doesn't half-step; in fact, unpacking his dark, fantastical scenery and swamp-stomp poetry requires close reading and, perhaps, a working knowledge of Latin.
I'm not saying anything new: Mercer, along with drummer Melanie Campbell, bassist Mike Rak, and keyboardist Grayson Walker, have been an established force for a few years, gaining a wider audience with 2004's less magical The Folded Palm. Still, you get the feeling that for many, the Victoria, B.C. quartet remains no more than a name dropped by Wolf Parade when its members are asked to list their favorite contemporary musicians. As Daniel Johnston or the Vaselines know, a ringing endorsement from a younger, more popular artist can draw new listeners, which is just one of a dozen or so reasons why it's nice to have these early, hard to find but absolutely essential albums reissued by Absolutely Kosher. And man, did they ever bring them back with triple-fat style.
If you consider yourself a longtime diehard, keep reading, because there's more than enough extra material appended to make old friends shine like new. Showing an attention to detail, the label and band decided to place a 30-second pause before the bonus tracks on each album-- this way, theory goes, the extras seem self-contained and not like a run-on sentence.
Anyhow, once The Golden River's 11 tracks end, 12 additional songs more than double the listening experience. The reinforcements were culled from the "Emboldened Navigator" 7" (originally out on Brooklyn's excellent Soft Abuse label) and a wonderfully raw, previously unreleased recording session with Wolf Parade/Sunset Rubdown's Spencer Krug on keyboards.
Steely-eyed completists will note that The Bloody Hand's "The Fruit That Fell From the Tree" is here as "The Fruit That Ate Itself" in homage to the Modest Mouse oldie. Take a gander at the gruff, pokier version of the aforementioned "One in Six Children Will Flee In Boats" (from The Golden River): Its crackles are lo-fi and pretty until Mercer sharpens his surroundings. "Libertatia's National Lullaby", a melancholic distorto/spring-reverb closer, is another repeat. Parsing every minor repetition or hiccup requires a flow chart (mine's been kept in glittery crayon), so you can do the math on the rest of that.
While reviewing Sunset Rubdown's LP, I deflected the Krug/Mercer comparisons, but it's increasingly difficult to let them slide. Not only does The Golden River reinscribe the Krug session, but instrumental track "A Song Once Mine Now No Longer Mine" shows up on Sunset Rubdown's debut as "Sol's Song". Then, more obviously, there's "Spencer's Song For Carey to Officially Sing" and the new Canadian supergroup Swan Lake, in which the two are joined by Destroyer's Dan Bejar. Critical difference: Like Krug, Mercer has one of those voices. Unlike Krug, his backup band doesn't always sweep-- it occasionally gargles. The more staid backing band calls for more acrobatics in a singer's delivery-- as a wise Pitchfork staffer put it, Krug acts like a monster, Mercer, in fact, is one. A humane monster, of course, like John Gardner's Grendel.
The newfangled version of The Bloody Hand is just as jammed. Here, it's buffered by Seagulls Is on the Rise, the until now unreleased sophomore album from Mercer and bassist Mike Rak's pre-Frog Eyes band, the Blue Pine. The material feels a bit aimless, less distinguished, and is generally mellower than Frog Eyes. There are compelling moments, though, like the Jarvis Cocker-like crooning on "Buttercup", the paper-shredding guitar solo on "Tyranny of Sight and Tyranny of Seeing", and the stuck-in-quicksand and sloshed on whiskey power-sad closer "Before They Was Killed in a Car Crash", which goes out with some full-on psychedelic, hurricane noise. (Tellingly, a few tracks before it is "Drinking: The Song").
Whatever the peaks and valleys, these fresh-faced reissues were intended both as a build-up for Frog Eyes' next full-length as well as a way to bring the original trilogy (as Mercer views it) to a definitive close. They succeed in providing the latter, but according to sources close to the band, album four, Tears of the Valedictorian, has been pushed back until early 2007. Please, though, no worries: Until then, there's a 19-minute single-song EP forthcoming on the Spanish label Acuarela and, more substantially, these super-stocked reissues.
