The Blind Spot is
Alec K. Redfearn & the Eyesores' saddest album yet. It also contains some of the group's prettiest arrangements. If you got into
Redfearn's music via
The Quiet Room, his first album for Cuneiform, chances are you will find this follow-up release somewhat of a letdown at first. Where is the buoyancy? Where is the bounciness? True, there is almost none of that here. What you will find, though, is the same heavily acoustic instrumentation, along with the same vocal counterpoints and intricacies between parts. The album opens on a short instrumental experiment, followed by two exquisite songs about dead girls. "Queen of the Wires" deserves special mention as one of the group's finest songs yet, the drama of the story being conveyed without any emotional shtick. After this three-part preamble, the album is entirely turned over to "I Am the Resurrection and the Light," an eight-part song cycle. In his liner notes,
Redfearn explains that "the piece is intended as a eulogy for several of my friends who died of drug overdoses and addiction-related suicide as well as a meditation on my own spiritual history and bankruptcy in relation to my own experiences as an addict." No, this album won't be the light of your party. However, even though the subject matter is indeed heavy,
The Blind Spot is not an after school special for avant-prog fans. Lyrics are artful and evocative, vocals remain subdued, arrangements are graceful throughout, with the accordion still occupying the center spot. After a succession of delicate songs ("The Radiator Hymn," "The Flesh of the Drum," "The Blind Spot") and evocative themes ("River of Glass"), the suite concludes on a grating drone-based improvisation that adds a sorrowful note. If
The Quiet Room warranted comparisons to whimsical bands like
Hamster Theatre and Only a Mother,
The Blind Spot is a different affair and should be approached on its own terms. ~ François Couture