Reighnbeau – Ashes

January 2, 2012 • Bridgetown Records

I can't say I know much about slowcore, even having been a fan of Red House Painters for a short time, but that's about as far as I've ever gotten. Reighnbeau's Ashes is, therefore, probably a horrible choice for me to review, even though it's quite a good album.

At the very least I can contrast it to Down Colorful Hill: Ashes is much more focused on the music and the mood than the lyrics, which I appreciate. The vocal delivery is very hushed and pushed back in the mix, bringing the moody, introspective guitar and rhythm section to the fore instead. On the whole it's a very dark and atmospheric take on slowcore—even though the production is pretty clean, there is a very oppressive and gloomy atmosphere over the whole thing from the hushed vocals and minimalist drumming. It's all very effective, especially when they bring other sounds into play like the subtle ambience on the title track or the woodwinds section on "Fingers". Somehow, it's even catchy at times, like the surprisingly major-key riff of "Snakes" and the more aggressive drum groove in "Restless".

Whereas other highly-acclaimed similar bands like Low get all the praise, I never liked how repetitive and stale their music was. Reighnbeau, on the other hand, never seems to get anywhere near as monotonous—and it really works, like I mentioned in the above paragraph. And consequently, despite its slow pacing, the album seems to fly by pretty quickly... I suppose that probably just means I like it more than anything, but I was surprised at the level of engagement I got with it.

Then again, it's from Bandcamp, the legendary website of neverending music gems, so I guess it's par for the course. Anyway, it's good stuff, so go stream away.

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