Burnt Toast Vinyl
2005
The Exquisite Death Of Saxon Shore
About This Album
There's no question that the story behind The Exquisite Death of Saxon Shore is a fine example of artistic persistence -- Saxon Shore founder Matt Doty had to deal with the departure of his earlier bandmates, recruiting and working with a slew of new performers using the Net to trade files for rehearsals and demos and then finally squeezing in a time-constrained recording session with producer/supporter Dave Fridmann, not to mention collaborating with cover designer Ben Volta throughout. Is the album as good as its back story, though? Yes, but only to an extent -- Saxon Shore are clearly aiming for a Big Epic Rock sound in the way that Fridmann is unquestionably great at overseeing, yet Exquisite Death for that reason is a very unsurprising album, where the majesty is welcomed for its familiarity more than for its newness. Starting with the massive-sounding "The Revolution Will Be Streaming," all ascending guitar lines and huge drums, Exquisite Death captures moods both of universe-filling sonics and gentle, meditative reflections. The rich melodic flow of "This Shameless Moment" and "The Shaping of a Helpless Joy" and the dramatic descending piano at the heart of "Silence Lends a Face to the Soul" all show that they have their approach down to a T.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,7 and 9)

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