[alternative folk, ambient] (2024) Hour - Ease the Work [FLAC] [DarkAngie]

    Hour – Ease the Work (2024)

Review:
…The instrumental music that makes up Ease the Work often comes off that way – it’s relatively uncomplicated (although frequently beautiful and sumptuous). Still, it occasionally veers off the rails to the point where it seems ominous and occasionally maddening. There’s a naivete to the arrangements and the execution – it’s a bit off-kilter and rough around the edges, to the point where it could accurately be described as outsider music. What prevents it from coming off as a more organic form of Muzak – and, in effect, what makes it so revelatory and consistently listenable – is the unvarnished nature of the performances. In May 2023, Michael Cormier-O’Leary assembled a group of musicians (12, including himself, who’s credited as playing electric and classical guitar, and percussion), and they boarded a ferry along with an entire studio’s worth of gear to an old off-Broadway theater on Peaks Island, Maine. After an initial hiccup – the whole island lost power on what was to be the first day of recording – eventually, the record was recorded in about a week. Building on the sound of the first two Hour albums (Tiny Houses and Anemone Red, both released in 2018), Ease the Work follows much of the same template but with a slightly broader sound, largely due to the addition of a few more instruments and musicians. “Island Time” opens Ease the Work and beautifully introduces the concept, as a slow, deliberate melody is played with an emphasis on piano, acoustic guitar, and plaintive strings. It’s undeniably gorgeous, and the musicians are playing at a pace that almost hints that it’s a tentative rehearsal. The charm and warmth is palpable. That is followed by the title track, the first indication that things can (and will) get tense: the initially peaceful song concludes with a final minute of swirling, atonal, noisy chaos. The mournful “KC & Clem” also begins innocently enough before collapsing under the weight of its orchestral ambitions. Blocks of neoclassical chamber-pop dissonance make up a bulk of “Stoner”, which sounds like Scott Walker attempting a stately version of one of Captain Beefheart‘s thornier instrumentals. There’s a DIY sensibility to this music, and a lot of it sounds very much cut from the same cloth as iconoclastic standard-bearers like Tortoise and Eiko Ishibashi. But it’s important to note that at the basis of all this music is an unmistakable sound of calm and meditation. Michael Cormier-O’Leary seems to enjoy putting the listener at ease and then crashing the party – sometimes subtly, other times not so much – as if to present the experience as a jarring alternative. Field recordings also comprise part of Ease the Work, with Lucas Knapp credited with radio effects, field recordings, and piano. On the brief “Often Walking”, a faint radio broadcast is heard alongside walking sounds, bicycles, and generic outdoor conversations – reminiscent of Ernest Hood’s iconic Neighborhoods – before the entire ensemble engages in a short but memorable performance. Some of the songs are arranged so oddly that there doesn’t seem to be any sonic comparison anywhere: on “The Most Gorgeous Day in History”, Peter McLaughlin’s brushed drums back up against electric guitar and strings in a jittery, start-stop style, before the strings conclude the song with a majestic coda. The final track on Ease the Work, “Kelly’s House”, seems to deconstruct the album’s concept as simply and sparsely as possible: opening with about a minute of lo-fi classical guitar strumming – as if Cormick-O’Leary is workshopping a melody – the remainder of the song is devoted to elegant strings playing simple chords in unison. It seems to wash away some of the more jarring moments by putting a beautiful bow on the entire project. Ease the Work is primarily a work of uncommon, resplendent beauty but performed in a manner that still manages to show the graceful beauty in the cracks and seams. — PopMatters
   

Track List:
01 - Island Time
02 - Ease the Work
03 - Stoner
04 - A Good Beanpot
05 - Brain Scrub
06 - KC & Clem
07 - Dying of Laughter
08 - Hallmark
09 - The Most Gorgeous Day in History
10 - Often Walking
11 - Mom Calls and You Answer
12 - Kelly's House
Media Report:
Genre: alternative folk, ambient
Origin: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits
Compression mode: Lossless
Writing library: libFLAC 1.3.0 (UTC 2013-05-26)
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