For all the sounds, instruments, and musicians employed on
Crooked Fingers, the sound of this collaboration by
Archers of Loaf's
Eric Bachmann and Brain Causey of
Man or Astro-man? is curiously lo-fi; it's also astonishingly gorgeous in its orchestral minimalism. Guitar, looping cello, and eclectrochime guide the folky melodies. "New Drink for the Old Drunk" has a let's-raise-a-toast veneer but its sentiment is straight from the heart of darkness, as is "Man Who Died of Nothing at All." "Black Black Ocean" has a melody so finely crafted, it's for the ages. The writing seems effortless; it's easy to imagine the writer lived the words and heard the melodies swirling in his head to the point of madness. Though
Bachmann's style has been compared to the dark hours of
Nick Drake and
Leonard Cohen, he also recalls a more deeply disturbed
Tom Waits -- especially on the sick, twisted, and beautiful "Juliette" and "She Spread Her Legs and Flew Away" -- in no small part due to his 200-cigarettes croak. ~ Denise Sullivan