Across Tundras - Dark Songs Of The Prairie
Crucial Blast - CRU-54 CD - 8/22/06
By Brandon Strader
The first full-length album from Denver, CO group
Across Tundras builds on desolate imagery and slow, sludgey riffs that are tame enough to put you to sleep, yet has enough going on to grab your attention as well. The drumkit features a setup that makes it sound much more natural, and not digitally enhanced. In fact, the timing is bad at times in the percussive performance giving it an even more blatant amateur sound what with the natural somewhat softened production. The vocals also take a back seat, as the croons and moans are smothered with reverb and mixed into the background. Indeed,
Dark Songs Of The Prairie sounds like something people at home with some free time could have cooked up, yet that is one of the features that makes this debut so special. The bigger over-produced bands couldn't get away with releasing such an honest album!
It's amazing how bands can take normal powerchords and riffs, slow them down like a turtle, and then post a special label on it like it is something extraordinary. The production of
Dark Songs Of The Prairie and the loose performances could be overlooked, but the songwriting is really nothing special. The band does touch on a few cool moments, like the atmospheric recoil that leads into one of the more slightly uptempo and melodic heavy arrangements on "If God Cuts You Down", the southern-tinged loafing moods of "Western Wind" and "The Old Sexton" (which also has some female vocals smothered in the background), and the rockin' riffs and higher-octave vocals of "Cosmic Retribution".
Dark Songs of the Prairie is severely hit or miss; sure, it has some great parts that you might even bounce your boot to, but it also contains a lot of uninteresting sections. "The Old Sexton" is probably the best song on the album, as it sounds like something you'd hear a guy playing in a saloon accompanied by a bunch of drunken cowboys singing along, though it also happens to be the shortest song on this 51-minute lounger. "Aura Lea, Maid of Golden Hair" has a similar sound with the one acoustic part and all the accompanying drunken vocalists!
Dark Songs Of The Prairie is one of those albums to take with you on a 5-hour road trip to play very late at night, as it's got just enough weakness to keep you calm but enough intensity to keep you awake. It's probably only worth checking out if you really, really,
really like the more slow-paced and sludgey music.
5/10
UM's Review Rating Scale
Official Across Tundras Website
Official Crucial Blast Website
