May 2002 • Rockbites Alternative Daily
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Crooked Fingers move to Merge, release covers EP 15 May 2002
The mysterious 'third member' of Azure Ray, Eric Bachmann, might also be known to you as front man and primary songwriter for critically acclaimed Chapel Hill, North Carolina indie rockers Archers Of Loaf—who toured relentlessly and put out six LPs over their ten year run. The Archers retired a few years back, but Bachmann remains very active with his side project Crooked Fingers—sometimes performing solo, sometimes with one other musician, sometimes with a band. Last week Crooked Fingers as a full band released for the US a five-track EP evocatively titled Reservoir Songs—marking Bachmann’s transition from Athens, Georgia label WARM Electronic Recordings (Azure Ray, Elk City, Empire State) over to Chapel Hill’s Merge Records (...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, East River Pipe, Radar Brothers, Spoon). The new EP also marks the first time Bachmann has focused on covers. And if you hadn’t already figured it out from his Crooked Fingers LPs, Reservoir Songs provides a roadmap to the pop & country sides of Bachmann’s many influences. Sounding like the bastard child of Neil Diamond and Bruce Springteen (there’s a pretty picture, huh?) trying to impress Tom Waits (really: this is a good thing), Bachmann and friends offer interpretations that are so inspired, fully realized, and faithful to the spirit of the lyrics that the songs take on new life and leave you wondering why the original artist didn’t understand his own words this well. It’s a head-spinning effect that reminds me of The Red House Painters’ Mark Kozelek’s re-interpretations of AC/DC songs on his landmark 2001 covers album What’s Next To The Moon. The tracks on Reservoir Songs are Sunday Morning Coming Down (written by Kris Kristofferson, previously recorded by Johnny Cash), Solitary Man (released as a single in 1965 by Neil Diamond, covered two years ago by Johnny Cash), When U Were Mine (written by Prince, previously recorded by Cyndi Lauper), The River (Bruce Springsteen), and Under Pressure (Queen with David Bowie). With banjo, lap steel guitar, acoustic drums, electric bass, euphonium, and strings, and with synths sounding sometimes like a South American pan flute, sometimes like a Bavarian oom-pah tuba, sometimes just strange, Reservoir Songs is seriously twisted. It’s also highly musical and great fun. Four bites out of five. Rockbites ratings 5: life changing, 4: stunning, 3: captivating, 2: amusing, 1: annoying. Bachmann recently finished composing the score to the Dan Kraus film Ball Of Wax; the soundtrack is slated for an August release. Bachmann is also working on his third Crooked Fingers album which he expects to surface late this year or early in 2003. | Crooked Fingers | | Archers Of Loaf on Alias Records | | Merge Records | | CD from Amazon US | | top of page | |
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