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Crooked Fingers
After the end of Archers of Loaf, Eric Bachmann picked up an acoustic guitar. Then he used his gravelly voice to begin singing songs about wounded souls, drunken hazes, and sorrowful lovers. Crooked Fingers has been described more than once as the current generation's Neil Diamond with a dash of Tom Waits, and it's easy to see why. Bachmann's thoughtfully composed songs poise dark subject matter against hauntingly beautiful melodies. Crooked Fingers works best when he puts his hand at creating a backdrop of dark, lush orchestral pop punctuated with some expert finger-picking, swelling strings, sympathetic piano, hushed and soothing voices, and stately horn arrangements.
And Bachmann's gruff manner is merely a put on; you can tell as soon as you see him on stage, slightly awkward, creeping up the steps in his trademark beret. You see if further as he sings. He croons "You are fire / You are water / When you dance it is torture / Maybe some day on the bottom of the ocean we can meet" in "You Can Never Leave," as violins dance among the licking flames and are reflected in glittering eyes of pale, silent, troubled women who you can never truly rescue no matter how hard you try.
Both rough at the edges, and carefully crafted at the same time, Crooked Fingers evoke a bleary, melancholy dawn and a few glimmers of hope at the end of a dark tunnel.
Crooked Fingers - Under Sad Stars
Crooked Fingers - You Can Never Leave
Crooked Fingers - Sweet Marie
Crooked Fingers - Destroyer
Crooked Fingers official site. Buy Dignity & Shame from Merge Records, iTunes Music Store, or Amazon.
Posted by Queen of the Front Row at 03.05.05 at 10:30 AM
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