Media

Arbouretum: "False Spring" (MP3)

10:55 p.m. · February 18, 2009 · by Matthew Fiander

Is there any chance that with "False Spring," the band was going for a title that perfectly described their own sound? I mean, aren't their massive, psyched-out rock tunes just the kind of warm, hazy respites we look for come late February, early March? And don't we feel just a little like we've been shuffled back into the cold, daily trudge when these dudes are done bending notes till they break and soaking vocals in gauzy layers of reverb?

If you're inclined to agree with me on these two rhetorical questions, then this track, and the band's upcoming Song of the Pearl, are just what you're looking for. This beautifully huge tune is an amped-up, whiskey-dipped version of the spacious haze they gave us on 2007's Rites of Uncovering. And while the thundering vocals and towering solos and crunching guitar attacks are exactly what we've come to expect from these guys, it all just sounds somehow thornier and more tangled than anything they've given us before. But maybe what makes this song different for them, and so darn good, is that it does all this lofty rock stuff without giving up an ounce of its strong melody. You can, and should, go to Stereogum and download the track now.

Song of the Pearl is out March 10 on Thrill Jockey.