Seeing as the Shipping News took their band name from E. Annie Proulx's National Book Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name; and, considering that guitarist Jeff Mueller, of the now-defunct June of 44, and bassist Jason Noble, of Rachel's-- who previously collaborated in Rodan-- decided to form the band while composing and recording music for the NPR program "This American Life," I would venture that, individually, they're more literate than the entire lineup of a band like, say, Buckcherry.
Thus, I'd also presume that the three members of the Shipping News-- which also includes Rachel's drummer Kyle Crabtree-- see through the generally shallow lexicon of music criticism. For sometimes reviews, mine included, seem to be comprised of the same common-- that is, stale and overused-- words and phrases. As both critics and entertainers, we try and keep our language fresh, but there are only so many relevant words to describe a drum, a bassline, a guitar riff, or an overall aesthetic. Thus, I freely admit to occasionally consulting J.I. Rodale's semantic tome, The Synonym Finder. (Fuck Roget's!)
And then there are times when a critic relies instead on common words and phrases, if only to better communicate with an audience that, in being familiar with these popular words, understands their contextual meanings within music reviews. (William Safire, for instance, might take issue with an "angular" guitar.)
Take the description "critically acclaimed." Because there's no standard for this, critics-- not, er, Pitchfork critics, mind you-- will slap this tag onto any album that garnered one positive major review, and sometimes they'll do so just to legitimize their positive review of the follow-up. This term has been used in reference to the Shipping News' debut effort, 1997's Save Everything, but for good reason: it retained the raw aspect of Rodan's southern post-rock, but refined the sound by replacing the chugging metal riffs with dynamic guitar and bass interplay (a la June of 44). It sounded like the third album Slint should have made.
Did I say "post-rock?" Well, I'm not touching that, except to say that, other than the consistent vocal accompaniment, this term is still largely apt in regards to the Shipping News. Ah, yes: "apt." As in, the "aptly titled" opener, "The March Song." Dulled, repetitive guitar strumming and consistently off-kilter drums set the marching pace over which Mueller speaks truncated vocals like, "Wish for air/ Cocoon man/ Smothered in soil/ Deep in the earth again." The groove exits halfway through, though, as Noble's propulsive bass and Mueller's distorted guitar lend a genuine rock-ness to the track.
One might even call "The March Song" "explosive." Likewise for the 8\xBD-minute "Quiet Victories," which opens with dramatic drums and heavy guitar delay before settling down to sparse percussion and Noble's faint, fragile voice. Later on, a guitar cracks into the song like an ax to wood. And even deeper into the track, the band nicely employs a pause without the reward of an "explosion," and follows it with a crescendo of cymbals, throbbing bass and soaring guitars.
But that's about it for "crescendo." With its, yes, "angular" bassline, "Nine Bodies, Nine States" might be called "energized" or "driving"-- at least relatively speaking-- but it never materializes into anything more than repetitive three-chord arrangements. The remaining songs could be described as "mood pieces" or "drifts." "Actual blood" offers brushed cymbals and a spare kickdrum and snare, as well as Noble's hurt voice managing lines such as, "The words you use spill actual blood." Beneath the surface of "Simple Halo" lurk scratchings, clickings, and a distorted organ, but when the surface contains (literally) tired vocals and the same old drum pace, what good are those intricacies? And "Contents of a Landfill," with its lightly-swirling guitar notes and percussive crashing waves, is more Rachel's than Rodan.
The closer, "How to Draw Horses," would be called "deliberate" or "disciplined"-- or perhaps, since the Shipping News are often referred to as math-rock, "calculated." In other words, what they're playing is probably complex in a music theory sort of way, but translates into unemotional noodling. Aside from the occasional noise drudges in the background and the dual vocals, the song comes across as an exercise in musical pedantry.
Very Soon, and in Pleasant Company represents what some reviewers might call "a period of transition." And given the device I'm using in this review, I'll do the same. They've... let's see... "eschewed" the bursting emotion that marked Save Everything (as well as Rodan), but have kept its skill, thus creating graceful record without a core. Which is why, in describing Very Soon, I've used the very words I've singled out as being overused: this album isn't innovative or moving enough to warrant a fresh vocabulary.
