Odiorne
Heavy Wish
File Thirteen Records

By Kevin J. Hosey

Led by former Mercury Rev/The Moment drummer Jimy Chambers, who now plays guitar and sings, Odiorne plays thick, dreamy rock with lots of guitar, keyboard and trumpet swirled together. While I liked the band a lot when it opened for Steve Wynn and on its debut 4-song CD, I had no idea how good this full-length recording (which includes musical and technical contributions from Mercury Rev members) would be. It opens with “Sirocco (Heavy Wish),” the first of two versions of this song, a real good tune with jangly guitars and synths washing over the early part of introduction before piano and more keyboard join in. The thick, mid-tempo song, with nice trumpet from Jimmy Burgess, has Chambers realizing that he’s in love and she won’t leave his mind; the other version of the song is much lighter with more synthesizer, electronics and percussion along with acoustic guitar and piano. “The Diver” is slow and dreamy, with trumpet and ringing, pensive keyboard while Chambers’ guitar becomes louder and jangly and the band sounds majestic but with punch. He mentions diving for pearls, as if he’s willing to reach low or far away to find the best things, especially love. “Life Construction” is reminiscent of The Church, with acoustic guitar (and later chiming electric guitar) and ethereal sounds from the rest of the band; Chambers seems to be saying that sometimes life has its own course and pace, which we can’t always influence or change. Chambers sounds detached on “Crooked Sky,” singing through ringing guitars that things don’t look the same or as good as they did and that he feels like a stranger, wondering if he and his partner’s relationship is over. “Kino” is a really good, haunting instrumental song with spare, echoey piano alone, then joined by synthesizer and strings and light drums; later, some treated guitar comes in and out of the mix; there is also some soaring, hard-edged electric guitar on “One a Day.” File Thirteen Records can be contacted at PO Box 804868, Chicago, IL, 60680, and Odiorne can be contacted at www.odiorne.net.
The Believers
Crashyertown
Bonafide Recordings

By Kevin J. Hosey

I’m not surprised that Buddy Miller is among those thanked in the CD liner notes; while Craig Aspen and Cynthia Frazzini don’t sound too much like Buddy and Julie Miller, they sound good together and their songs of love, lust and relationships good and bad often work better when the couple sings together, with their country rock strongly featuring both qualities. “Railroad Spikes and Shotgun Shells,” the CD opener, goes from feeding back guitar to acoustic guitar chords as the band joins in; the story of a couple getting together against their parents’ wishes, running away and having a baby goes terribly wrong as the song turns into good country rock, the relationship ends and he kills himself. ”Crashyertown” is fine mid-tempo country rock with real nice pedal steel guitar from Dan Tyack as Aspen wakes up, loves the town his girlfriend lives in and realizes he has fallen in love with her. “Long Way to Heaven” would be a country radio and country chart hit in a fair world, melodic, hooky country with some rock spice as Frazzini notes that when you’ve fallen as far as you can go, even though there is nowhere to go but up, you are still a long way from a better life. “Get Started” is real sweet country, a slow, swinging shuffle with smart accordion from Nova Devoine and more fine pedal steel from Tyack; Frazzini thinks she has found the right guy and is trying to convince him to give her a try. Things crank up a bit on “Jordan,” with Aspen’s guitar blending pounding, bluesy rock and country twang; Frazzini is pregnant, her man has abandoned her and her parents have rejected her. Aspen’s sharp guitar solo is matched by drummer Stevie Adamek’s organ solo. There is also a loud, jangly, guitar driven cover of Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” and, being a former tuba player, I must mention the tuba and banjo-led fun by Danny Barnes on “Highway Song.” The Believers can be contacted through Burnside Distribution at www.bdcdistribution.com, www.thebelieversUSA.com or through Liz Winchester at Red Haired Girl Publicity, PO Box 866, Cherryville, PA 18035-0886, RHG-Publicity@earthlink.net.