Silver Summit's self-titled debut fits roughly into the acid folk category, with its melancholy melodies and the earnestly mystical tinge of David Shawn Bosler and Sondra Sun-Odeon's compositions. The use of exotic (by rock standards) instruments like saz, mandolin, gong, Tibetan singing bowls, African water drums, and harp also adds to the odd aura, as do Sun-Odeon's rather grimly downbeat vocals, the spooky backup vocal harmonies, the unusual electronic effects, and the overall unpredictable structures and progressions of the songs. Strong elements of vintage British folk (
Bert Jansch's "Wishing Well" is the sole non-original) and Middle Eastern/Asian tunes and instrumentation are also present. Any traces of rock music, in fact, are relatively inconspicuous, although you can hear some grungy, ripping electric guitar riffs in a few cuts. But although the atmosphere's consistently haunting, the songs are often too fragmentary to make a deep impression and the mood too stonily inward-looking. There's eclectic ability in
Silver Summit, to be sure, but there's also a feeling that they're biting off a few more diverse forces than they should be chewing to make coherent musical statements. ~ Richie Unterberger