Son Ambulance: Someone Else’s Déjà Vu

Elly Roberts reviews

Son Ambulance: Someone Else’s Déjà VuDistributed by
Saddle Creek Records

• Released: July 2008
• Rating: 10/10+
• Vote and comment on this album:View Comments

---

Connor Oberst’s buddy does a, Connor Oberst, only better.

Once again Saddle Creek continue their avante garde philosophy by releasing a gem by little known (UK- wise) Son Ambulance.

Now on their third full album, they emerge from a three year hibernation, cum hiatus.

This accomplished Nebraskan outfit is back to thrill us with a melange of 60s and 70s lush popish delights.

One of the many highlights is Joe Knapp’s wonderful voice along with the ‘stream of consciousness production (? yeah, me too), is once of the best sonic delights of 2008. Using several musicians ranging from bands such as Tilly And The Wall and The Faint, they support regulars Jeff Koster, Dan Knapp and Dereck Higgins. In a way this is an attempt at a concept album, divided into four parts – A View Of Minstrel Town (tracks 1-3) About The Public Square (tracks 4-7) To A Deserted Town (tracks 9-11) and Farewell Pulse (tracks 13 & 13) with track 8, ‘and’, being a 42 second noise track, which appears to conclude part 2, About The Public Square.

Yes, Son Ambulance are different, not like Devendra Banhart, Micah P.Hinson or Sufjan Stevens, more like Oberst’s Bright Eyes if anything, they manage, in this case, to dip into both Americana stylings and the glorious West Coast Sound of yore, without ‘selling out’.

What makes this such a hit, with me anyway, is the masterfully geared accessibility, making you want to give it several rotations. Oberst has that knack too.

---

Going from the Latino driven A Girl In New York with its samba flourishes to the ploddingly beautiful (and I mean beautiful, oh and sweet) midsection of harmonies and wiry guitars makes it a lush opening. Look out for Carnival whistles too and deft drums.

It’s followed by heavenly girlie backups opening Legend Of Lizeth, which soon rumbles into mini-opus with a cacophonous crescendo.

Then there’s the sparseness of glorious Latino inflected Quand Tu Marches Seul, with Wild Roses the most beautiful here – you won’t hear a better song this year. He gives a nod to Hinson for a few tunes like, dustbowl drenched Yesterday Morning and The Renegade, though he adds his own inimitable melodies and harmonies (think accessibility). At its most defining moment, Someone Else’s..sparkles with just an acoustic guitar and voice found on the understated gem Constellations.

A cowboy flavoured Awakening (with hoof clunks) evolves into a mini (and unexpected) opus with swirling F/X, and pristine (reverbed) voice in full flow – marvellous. Finally, ghostly, or maybe heavenly, Requiem For A Planet is a glorious to round of a great album.

Overall, SA have made a very solid album indeed, with superb songcraft and musical landscapes to impress even the casual listener. It’s coming with me to LA, but that’s another story.

File under: A classic.

Weblink:sonambulance.com

---

The full list of tracks included are :

1. A Girl In New York
2. Legend Of Lizeth
3. Quand Tu Marches Seul
4. Wild Roses
5. Horizons
6. Yesterday Morning
7. Constellations
8. and
9. Juliet’s Son
10. The Renegade
11. Awakening
12. Someone Else’s Déjà Vu
13. Requiem For A Planet View the discussion thread.blog comments powered by Disqus= 0) {query += ‘url’ + i + ‘=’ + encodeURIComponent(links[i].href) + ‘&’;}}document.write(”);})();//]]]]>]]>

[Up to the top of this page]