Departure Songs

About

Album release date was October 2, 2012 not January as shown above. About Departure Songs (Words by James Mason): Hammock go massive as they meditate on grand themes of death and lo, their music ever larger, more expansive. Every song a mountaintop vista with a clear view to the horizon, unencumbered by cloud, in all direction. Departure Songs demands that it be played loudly so that the details in each track can breathe, whether it is the androgynou, falsetto vocals of Marc Byrd or the angelic voice of Christine Glass Byrd or just a little bit of guitar in the background, this record is nuanced in a most compelling fashion. The arrangements beg to be picked apart - soaring guitar, propulsive ba, and hypnotic string. The vocals work wonderfully as an instrument, but when the words finally become understandable, they cause shiver. Departure Songs is an album about being there and not being there. And how it feels to both be there and have someone else not be there. Presence and absence. Love and grief. Hammock’s music has always been a balm for troubled hearts in troubled times - and here the troubled times are their own. This is intensely personal music, and we are lucky that Hammock will let us listen in. Not as fragile as previous effort, Departure Songs shows a more mature songwriting, more assured production, a fuller approach to crafting music. Hammock retains its signature approach to epic music-making, but this time out, herald their muse in all capital letter, with cinematic crescendos and an architect’s ear for structure both within a song and as a sequence of song. The quiet, more ambient tracks act as both underline and counterbalance to the bigger track. .

via Last.fm

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