Album Club 2019: Thuja - All Strange Beasts Of The Past
 

Thuja - All Strange Beasts Of The Past
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Final Rating 7.9 out of 10

Get listenin' yall.

Thoughts: First of all, this is a short record considering it's a modern one, but I think it works well considering the subject matter, which is a droning meandering through a minimal free folk soundscape. This is just a random thought of mine, but it feels like the music is exploring all the misty, empty territory between that branch in the foreground and the (whatever that is) in the background. The music here imposes nothing on the listener, allowing me to complete the themes with my own imagination. This is a CD-only release, but looking at the tracklist breakdown, it's almost vinyl in its format. The first six tracks combined length is about the same at the seventh track's length, like the first six would be side A, and the long seventh track would be side B. The free-form music of side A is a multi-sectional, dreamy prologue to the main event of the album, the 18-minute field recording wherein the music is more like a veil over the real world.

Rating: 7/10

Associated with the Jewelled Antler Collective - including Loren Chasse from id battery -
Thuja use bowed and plucked instruments on a collection of improvisations that communicate
the rural luster of Hans Reichel or the eccentric microtonal sensations of a Harry Partch.
Field recordings that are artfully manipulated, reach their mesmerizing culmination in the final
18-minute work that’s an assemblage of swishing woodland brush, a thicket of open-air human
liveliness and inattentive sound blundering resulting in a sublimely free-folkish treasure.

7.9

I've listened once and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Absolutely gorgeous album, and certainly worth hearing. I need to listen to it at least one more time before giving my full thoughts, which I will do within the next day or two.

I will say that I can see this staying on rotation for at least the next month, probably more.

Real ephemeral stuff, this. Thuja's brand of earthy, improvisational folk seems to drift on the outskirts of perception, with consistent rhythms and melodies seeming fleeting at best. This effect is aided by the massive amounts of foley and ambient drone used on this album, as sounds of metal, rock and wood as well as vast yawns of mysterious hums mask the muted guitar and percussion.

If I were to summarize All Strange Beasts into a mental image (which it constructs musically very well), I'd say it's like walking through an abandoned town that floats in the cloudy sky. Where there once was a vibrant culture of bustling, friendly markets and children running through the streets now lies only dilapidated shacks and emptiness. All the while during your stroll, this album is playing in your peripheral, drifting seemingly halfway between a dream and a memory. Every time you try and focus your ears to it, it fades into the windy ambiance. It's music that shows great age but is simultaneously ageless- it's music of a time long forgotten that has, through time, sort of fused itself with the harmony of nature.

Thuja execute a well-done but relatively short-lived atmosphere with this album. It's not mind-boggling or life changing, but I don't think that was the intention. They attempt to create ghostly music that exists in the past, and they do a good job.

**** I forgot about this. What's the deadline?

Tomorrow.

Back just in time from my vacation to participate like a true member should!I'm actually proud of myself.

Reaction

I'll be quick because I have to get to work. I liked the album a lot. I expected to NOT like this as much because I have a very hard time finding good free folk that I like a lot. So, good job. Looks like this came out in 2002 on Emperor Jones which is a label I've never f*cking heard of in my life. I'm surprised because there's some bands I recognize/like on there such as American Analog Set, Truman's Water, and a few Mountain Goats releases.

Lots of sound experimentation on this with some droney background synth. I like that combination. Last track is creepy as f*ck. I love it.

This is something I'll listen to again.

8/10

That's not out of ten, you hack!

I missed that rule. You learn math yet in college?