Artist: Dead Legs
Album: Remnants
Country: United States
Release: 2006
Style: Other / Psychedelic / Lounge
Dead Legs, a four-piece from Tallahassee, Florida, conjure melancholic soundscapes that seem to suggest a far larger band is responsible for their creation. Falling somewhere between Godspeed and Jaga Jazzist, they maintain a very unique vibe through unpredictable arrangements and use of atypical instrumentation, including lapsteel, vibraphones, and found-sound. Their website features photographs that seem to perfectly represent the mood that their music suggests: barren, desolate, destroyed, yet with a hopeful sun shining over it all. Poetic and lyrical guitar playing evokes the same desolation, and the vague background noise perfectly suits the compositions, providing a balance between clean melodies and ambient drones. “If you've ever visited these parts, perhaps you will recognize our songs. Slow, sweaty, dirty, meandering, leading nowhere and somewhere,” says the band, and I couldn’t say it any better myself. Self-released, Remnants hardly exists outside Tallahassee and the band's MySpace page, but hopefully that will begin to change.
These are some strange compositions, that’s for sure. Sparse, indirect, oblique, and at times repetitive, they slowly evolve, and then end, leaving the listener unsure if they’ve gone anywhere at all. These songs can be very weird at times, legitimately weird, but they never really fall apart or seem random, and this balance and cohesion is a hard to attain. They do seem to be somewhat directionless at times, but that in itself isn’t always a bad thing.
The album begins with the mellow, slow paced “Better Half.” Clocking in at 3:41, its meandering guitars and horns carve their way through a steady piano and bass background, eventually spilling out into the marshes of “All Became Ash,” a slowed down jam reminiscent of Tortoise if they were on heroin (think the opposite of 65dos perhaps…), with an obvious affinity for GY!BE. Though it may just be the vibes. “All Became Ash” is an excellent standout track, tied together by its simple melodies and interesting changes. The percussion in particular is worth mentioning, as the brushed drumming and precise snare flames sound almost as though they were slowed down, setting an interesting rhythmic backdrop. At 5:50, we are teased with two bars of bass interspersing a long groove, which unfortunately is not picked up again, and doesn’t seem to offer an obvious transition into the next track, but nor is it awkward. “Ghostruments” represents the bands range, and is probably the best introduction to the band's sound overall. An 8:44 long piece that slowly builds from minimalism to a chill guitar groove led by the twisting lap steel solo. The song ends with a tension building tempo increase, as the snare drum and guitars crescendo….and then just fade out. The longest song on the album, “Nature’s Nature,” is somewhat distinct from other tracks on the album as at its center is an improvisational trumpet. Wisely, the band separated these two long tracks from each other with a tune called “It Comes Back,” a short piece that resists being simply a filler track. The eponymous title track suitably takes the listener home with its placid descent.
Dead Legs are very successful at creating atmospheres and moody ambience. The lap steel evokes an undeniable western vibe, which (fortunately, depending on your preference) is not extended beyond that, and thus does not become gimmicky nor derivative. Remnants is a record sure to please anyone looking for some chill, down tempo jams, without resorting to electronic bleeps or endless drones. A band to keep your eye on, I’m very much looking forward to seeing what these guys produce in the future.
-Joseph Sannicandro (SilentBallet)
