LORCA

Arriving at the this album straight from his sophomore effort, it's only natural we get the bejesus scared out of ourselves once the first few notes of Lorca flow from the speakers, a real feel of "ah, nothing like a nice piece of bucolic psych-folk mus? WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?". That, my reader friend, is one of the eeriest organ openings to an album I've had the pleasure of listening. Which, frankly, weren't that many, but that's not the point. The point is that opening title track sounds like nothing you've ever heard before, and hardly will again, a sombre and languorous love song that will hold the bar for the remainder of the album. Lorca features electric pianos swirling around pipe organs with Tim singing all over the place with John Balkin's bass line providing a shivering rhythm more reminiscent of Black Sabbath and Jacula that American folk.

The remainder of the album doesn't do as good a job freaking you out as the opening title track, but we're still miles away from the conventional pop-folk song structure of earlier albums. Anonymous Proposition features a lazy "Jazz Club at 3 a.m." kind of sound, more soothing that somber, still featuring flourishes of instrumentation running wild in the background, as if each musician was doing his own thing. At around 6 minutes, I Had A Talk With My Woman is the shortest track on the album, and the one that wouldn't sound awfully out of place on Buckley's earlier albums. It's a slow gospel-like piece, sprinkled with some delightfully discrete electric guitar. Driftin' resumes from the second track, back to a more slow-paced rhythm & blues sounds, but there's not a speck of uncontrolled jazz improvisation on this one, apart from Tim's unconventional vocal deliveries. Finally, Nobody Walkin' ends the album on a high note, with the faster- paced track on the album, carried by the almost tribal drumming of Carter Collins and his congas and another super bass line. There is even space for some jamming midway.

So, conclusions. Lorca is not your everyday listen ? it's an album you should prepare yourself for, be in the right mood. It's a hard album to get into, but one shouldn't be discouraged if it doesn't click on the first listen. Like it's grey cover almost seems to indicate, this album is a hazy affair, where you feel lost amid a fog of the mind. A quiet environment is best to fully appreciate the intricacies of the music delivered by this excellent set of musicians. Regarding lyrics, words are relatively sparse considering the length of the tracks, but they completely fill the songs due to Tim's slow and languid delivery, often stretching syllables beyond reasonable. But that, like most things about this album, is an acquired taste, and one should probably not tackle this album unprepared. Listen before you buy.

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