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CABIN FEVER!

Rasputina

Prog Folk


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Rasputina Cabin Fever! album cover
3.09 | 3 ratings | 1 reviews | 0% 5 stars

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Studio Album, released in 2002

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Gingerbread Coffin (3:43)
2. Thimble Island (2:41)
3. State Fair (3:11)
4. Sweet Water Kill (The Ocean Song) (3:33)
5. Remnants of Percy Bass (3:34)
6. Rats (3:07)
7. Clipped (2:51)
8. PJ + Vincent & Matthew + Bjork (2:26)
9. My Orphanage (3:17)
10. Cross Walk (3:22)
11. Hunter's Kiss (3:55)
12. Our Lies (3:09)
13. AntiqueHighHeelRedDollShoes (2:13)
14. Cooped (1:09)
15. A Quitter (7:31)

Total time: 49:42

Line-up / Musicians

- Melora Creager / vocals, cello, dulcimer, piano, drum programming
- K. Cowperthwaite / cello, backing vocals
- Nana Bornant / cello, backing vocals

Releases information

CD Instinct INS599-2 (2002) US

Thanks to ClemofNazareth for the addition
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RASPUTINA Cabin Fever! ratings distribution


3.09
(3 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(0%)
0%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(50%)
50%
Good, but non-essential (50%)
50%
Collectors/fans only (0%)
0%
Poor. Only for completionists (0%)
0%

RASPUTINA Cabin Fever! reviews


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Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by ClemofNazareth
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Prog Folk Researcher
3 stars 'Cabin Fever' seems to have been something of a threshold album for Rasputina. If there were any doubt before that Melora Creager was in charge that is gone now along with former band mate and fellow cellist Julia Kent. Gone also is the band's third cellist Agnieszka Rybska, left to raise a family. The two have been replaced by Nana Bornant and K. (Kris) Cowperthwaite, leaving the band lineup as a cello trio.

The Columbia contract is also gone, this being the first of a handful of records released with the Instinct label imprint. Creager not only wrote all the music and lyrics, she also produced and mixed the record and provided some of the sleeve artwork. She also branches out musically by adding piano, dulcimer and drums (programmed) to her repertoire. As would become apparent with ensuing albums, Rasputina was (and is) a Creager operation.

One other change is the infusion of industrial and electronic sounds on several tracks, where the previous two studio albums were almost exclusively acoustic. The energy and variety from these electronic additions add to the overall sound, but also tend to overshadow the thing that makes Rasputina most appealing, the cellos.

The musical themes here are consistent with the band's earlier material, mostly tortured and pitiful tales of Americana in the form of made-up character sketches. "Remnants Of Percy Bass" tells the story of an aging and decrepit former movie star, reduced to dementia and mostly forgotten save for Creager herself. The theme is reminiscent of "Rose K." from their prior release 'How we Quit the Forest', and undoubtedly meant to be a sappy crowd favorite in live settings. It works.

"State Fair" is one of the drum and electric-infused tunes with staccato programmed drums, distorted cello strands and what sure sounds like (uncredited) electric guitar. Maybe not; I suppose an amped-up cello has some of the same range. This is another trademark Creager story of some sort of small-town carnie tramp with a crush on the 4H pig farmer's kid that seems to end with a permanent bath in an ocean riptide. Weird stuff, but that's what Rasputina fans have come to expect.

Most of the rest of the album ranges between these two extremes, with few of these songs ending up among the band's more memorable tunes but most of them being consistent and fairly solid among Creager's body of work. I guess the jerky pseudo-new wave "AntiqueHighHeelRedDollShoes" has endured in her live repertoire, so that is worth mentioning. One other exception is the mostly spoken-word "PJ + Vincent & Matthew + Bjork" which in addition to the name-dropping also ranks among the more forgettable filler Creager has ever included in a release.

In all I mostly like this album, but wouldn't rate it in my top-3 Rasputina favorites. I can appreciate Creager's desire to expand the band's sound with electronic and drum programming as well as a slightly more layered mix, but really this band's appeal is all about her voice and the haunting cello string sounds. Variety and experimentation is good, but not at the expense of the band's core appeal. I pick up Rasputina albums to see how far Melora can take cellos. This time I feel like she took the easy way out. Three stars, but just barely, and recommended but not nearly as much as the two Columbia recordings, 'Melora de Basilica' or 'Sister Kinderhook'. If you don't know this band, try all of those before getting to this one.

peace

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