The progression from early Earth to modern Earth makes perfect sense, to me at least. Behind the change from dirty droning guitars to country doom, Earth retain a distinctive quality. The sound has changed, and the lineup has changed around Dylan Carlson, but the quality remains: a slow slow moving riff looping round and round, seemingly going nowhere, and catching you out when you start to think that. The riff is, and always has been, one of the keys to Earth. Where the early sound was as stripped down as possible, often solely consisting of a slow ultra-sparse grunge churn, modern Earth has started the process of building up again.
The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull, and Hex before it, has a much more detailed sound. Earth are a full band full of rich and varied musical textures, but without losing their wonderful minimal quality. The Bees Made Honey … takes the sound of Hex and pushes it into new directions. It is more rock- and jazz-based with shades of gospel creeping in through oscillating washes of Hammond organ. Guitar legend Bill Frisell adds fuzz guitar along side Carlson’s riff.
I love the new material Earth are producing. Haunting and sparse magic. The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull is a further step in their evolution. They have recently embarked on a European tour to coincide with the album. Having seen Earth at All Tomorrow’s Parties in December 2007 I know they are well worth seeing.
-Alaric-
