The ambition of
Midnight Choir grew apace with their third album, the flat-out astonishing
Amsterdam Stranded. The close relationship and identification with
the Walkabouts continued -- not only did
Chris Eckman again produce and Mark Nichols once more contribute string arrangements, but Terri Moeller took over drumming from Atle Aamodt, showing the same skills here as on
the Walkabouts' own releases. Engineering help from
Walkabouts/
Talk Talk veteran Phill Brown didn't hurt either, while recording took place in favored Eckman haunt Lisbon. For all the intertwining with Eckman's band, though,
Midnight Choir retained its own distinct flavor, with
DeLoner once again handling all songs except for a co-write with bassist
Olsen on "Bayview (Time Ain't No Friend)" and
Flaata turning in more strong, just twangy enough singing. Far from simply redoing
Olsen's Lot, though, the band stretched themselves with longer, more involved Americana-inspired compositions like "Muddy River of Loneliness" matched with equally gripping performances, and the end result is a stunner, the difference between a great album and a truly amazing one. In comparison to the overtly produced richness of
Olsen's Lot,
Amsterdam Stranded -- without question thanks to Brown's influence -- has more of a live and stripped-down feeling at many points, which still translates into full, evocative efforts. Even though the song styles are widely different, songs like "Harbor Hope" and "Mercy of Maria" and, say, any track off
Talk Talk's
Laughing Stock share a certain immediate power that really suggests a performance rather than a recording.
DeLoner's piano rather than guitar takes the lead throughout the album, specifically giving it a much different character than its predecessor, more darkly beautiful Scott Walker than doom-ridden
Chris Isaak.
Flaata's singing has the same personal, close sound as
Mark Hollis' as well, making performances on "October 8" and the utterly haunting "Death's Threshold Step #2/The Train" all the more gripping and powerful. ~ Ned Raggett