One thing about Berlin's
17 Hippies -- if one song doesn't grab you, just wait three or four minutes and it'll be followed by something completely different. In the space of the first three tracks of
Phantom Songs, they leap from trancey, neo-gamelan music to lightly twisted French chanson to "Across Waters," which sounds as if it could have been taken from the
Leonard Cohen songbook. Their entire career has been marked by stylistic eclecticism, and they see no reason to stop now, even mixing up Balkan brass and a bizarre gavotte (with banjo) in "Biese Bouwe." In lesser hands, this kind of mix 'n' match could easily turn into sonic mush, but they do it with such love (and knowledge) that it becomes a joyful little gumbo. "Lazy Friends & Promises" is very sweet psych folk, positively glowing with innocence, only to be followed by a cover of
Captain Beefheart's "Gimme Dat Harp Boy" that substitutes strings and brass for the gutbucket blues feel of the original to give the song a fresh feel. That's just a sampling of the delights; in other words, it's another 17 Hippies album. There's no other band quite like them, and they keep plowing their very individual furrow, bringing it all to a close on the folk/country-tinged "The Train," which brings everything to a very satisfying conclusion. ~ Chris Nickson