Thrill Jockey
2007
Rites Of Uncovering
About This Album
It's easier to divine a band's musical aesthetic when their press packet opens with a quote from the death scene in novelist Paul Bowles' masterpiece, The Sheltering Sky. Arbouretum's Rites of Uncovering closely echoes that novel's chief conceit -- transcending comfortable beliefs for the unknowable mysteries of the universe -- by stripping away traditional song structure and linear progression for more natural forms. Adhering to that blueprint, Arbouretum's songs are visceral and elemental, a loose-feeling mix of blues, folk, tribal beats, stoner rock and jam-based influences that belies the solid songwriting and musicianship at its core.

Arbouretum is the brainchild of David Heumann, who has played with Papa M and Cass McCombs, as well as brothers Paul Oldham (in Anomoanon), and Will Oldham (with Bonnie "Prince" Billy). The latter's influence is especially tangible in Heumann's voice and phrasing, though he tends to avoid the first-person confessional nature of Will Oldham's narratives. Still, the likeness can be a bit disconcerting at first. The sludgy, funereal-paced album opener, "Signposts & Instruments," sounds like Palace run through Black Sabbath's amplifiers, as does the nearly nine-minute "Pale Rider Blues.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,4,6 and 8)

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