I am a lifelong indie rocker. I can live with that, even though I
haven’t been a full-fledged, card-carrying member for several years now. But
when I was on, I was on: I
essentially listened to nothing but indie or its offshoots throughout my
college years, well into my late twenties. Pavement was my favorite, still is.
Silver Jews were up there. Beat Happening existed. My point is, if you like any
of these bands, as I did, and do, you should be ready for Arklight’s Vows.
This Brooklyn band has consistently popped up on my radar over the past
year or so, releasing a few things here and there, some
of which I covered right
here on good old #CASSETTEGODS! It was all in fun, made with a bracing sort
of garagey-ness and delivered with a brashness that belied the players recording
prowess. Vows continues down the same
stylistic path, but perhaps with a nod the seriousness of the title (a “vow”
constituting a “solemn promise,” one not easily brushed off), the songs are
more somber and sober. The Kolm brothers (and Monsieur Kostaras) are growing
up, right before our eyes!
Vocals are still very much in the territory of Calvin Johnson/David
Berman, and I like that. It’s an unusual timbre and one that’s not easily
pulled off with success. Here they lend Vows
some extra weight, as if the deepness reflects heaviness of spirit. Who’s
to say there isn’t? Not me. Everything warbles and lilts. Melancholy pervades. “We
sing out of tune” is extolled on “For the Better Sometime Soon,” as if there’s
no strength left to sing properly. The more I listen to it, the more I think
the Silver Jews comparisons are the most apt – there’s a dusty Nashville-ness
that pervades this tape, as if the floor of the recording space was perpetually
covered in sawdust and peanut shells.
And it all works, fundamentally, with heads low and guitars slung – I
imagine the Arklight fellows sitting as they record this one. The tunes are
wise beyond the years of their creators. Vows
is a keeper, that’s my solemn promise to you.
--Ryan Masteller
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