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Norfolk & Western
Listening to Norfolk & Western is like taking trip to an alternate reality. Unlike a lot of other bands taking influence from the voluminous catalog of traditional American popular and folk music, Norfolk & Western's music doesn't reinforce a nostalgic view of America's frontier past. It's a dirty, gritty, tubercular, coal-soot smudged chunk of unromanticized Americana.
Portland-based singer/songwriter/producer Adam Selzers' raspy, rickety voice combined with ominous percussion and occasional paper-thin backing vocals from Rachel Blumberg (formerly of that other alternate reality band, The Decemberists) are the foundation of the band's sound. Layered over that are mournful guitars, banjos, mellotron, vibraphones, piano, and other mysterious sounds (often reminiscent of the far-away whistle of a ghost train), creating a songs that are solemn memorials to a past that never was, sending clear but faint and fading messages to a future that will never be.
If you listen closely, you'll be transported to that alternate reality -- where Jim Jarmusch's film Dead Man is a true historical document, where Ennio Morricone is as revered as Mozart, where Roy Rogers never existed -- and it doesn't take much persuading to sit down next to the sputtering coal stove on a cold winter's day and stop a while for a listen before your train back to the 21st century rolls into the station.
Norfolk & Western - Impossible
Norfolk & Western - A Hymnal
Norfolk & Western - Disappear
Norfolk & Western's official website. Their fourth (and certainly best) album, Dusk in Cold Parlours, is available from Amazon and iTunes.
Posted by Little Miss Rock'n'Roll at 02.22.05 at 1:30 AM
Comments
Have you seen them live before? They're absolutely wonderful! I saw them two years ago opening for Lois Maffeo. The club stage was too small for them (!), so the keyboardist was forced into the opposite corner. But even that didn't matter. They were absolutely mesmerizing. Your description of their music is spot-on.
It doesn't hurt, either, that their record sleeves are beautifully letter-pressed. You know what a sucker I am for great packaging! Thankfully, their music is so very worth seeking out.
-Andrea
Posted by: Andrea at 02.22.05 at 7:38 AM
You know, I haven't seen them live -- one of those comedy of errors kind of things. I bet seeing them with Lois Maffeo was great!
I really need to acquire the prettily packaged releases. They truly are mind-bogglingly gorgeous.
Posted by: little miss rock'n'roll at 02.22.05 at 12:10 PM
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