oliver-the-crow-debut-review

Oliver the Crow Create Dynamic Orchestral Music Overlapping with Rustic Back-porch Folk on Their Debut

Inventiveness and musical integrity are evident in Oliver the Crow's self-titled debut album.

Oliver the Crow
Oliver the Crow
OTC Records
June 2018

Oliver the Crow creates dynamic orchestral music overlapping with rustic back-porch folk. Cellist Kaitlyn Raitz and fiddler Ben Plotnick make up the Nashville-based duo who released their debut self-titled album in June. Recorded in rural Cavendish, Vermont, Oliver the Crow enlisted the support from production team Speaker Face (Trent Freeman and Eric Wright), the Canadian based folk-electronic duo. Oliver the Crow is a stellar study of genre-bending and the power of stripped-down performances. An album composed of three instruments, the fiddle, cello, and voice, the music’s magic is in its simplicity. Oliver the Crow navigates through chamber and folk music, with nods to classic country and pop music. All the while, the strings create an ambiance of otherworldliness that makes it easy for listeners to slip into the duo’s world.

Raitz and Plotnick’s ability to experiment with genre stems from their roots as classically-trained performers. Kaitlyn has a masters degree in classical cello from McGill University, and Ben performed as a soloist with the Calgary Philharmonic. Yet their interest in music also encompasses bluegrass, jazz, and almost every subgenre of folk music. “Bury Me Beneath the Willow” evokes the haunting sounds of a sea shanty while “Ashes of a Day Gone By” heralds foundational roots folk music. The song’s instrumental bridge hears the strings jauntily running up an octave evocatively reminding of the duos’ classical training. “Sam River”, the album’s only instrumental track, reiterates the classical vibe.

Oliver the Crow deals with the disgruntlement that comes with insufficient progress. “Sailing with the Tide” problematizes nostalgia as it mitigates betterment. “I’ve been sailing with the tide / Winds of change why do you torture me / The water is deep as it is wide / What I left behind is pulling me beneath.” For many, memories anchor but can also prevent forward propulsion. This sentiment is revisited in “As the Crow Flies” as the lyrics paint a similar sense of frustration: “It doesn’t seem so far A to B / As the crow flies / The finish line’s a place that I can see / And as the crow flies / You wouldn’t see me trapped in this old maze / But I am no crow / And my worries are as long as my days.: The sense of haltation is overwhelming. Importantly, though, the track recalls that crows don’t fly in a straight line despite the idiom. This emphasizes that frustrations can eventually lead to resolution. For the duo, they never clarify whether the frustration is emotional, cultural, or political. In doing so, listeners can relate from multiple standpoints thereby creating an empathic and engaging album.

“45” is about, you guessed it, Donald Trump. The song begins by evoking Trump’s misguided attempt to adopt a trigger-happy John Wayne persona. Only an entrenched capitalist would idealize a dubious cowboy persona. As the lyrics suggest, “you saddled up your horses / And loaded up your guns / You promised all those wayward souls / First place in a race they’d never run.” Later the song specifically addresses Trump’s tendency to cause hate-filled vitriol with his reckless orations: “You commandeered their voices / Said it was for their sake / I’m the one who’s sent to you / To make this country great.” The only good thing to come out of Trump’s administration is the rise of art and music protests. Here Oliver the Crow takes a stance against the authoritarianism sweeping the country and use their music as a catalyst to spark change.

Admittedly, it took me three or four listens to get into this album. At first, the uncluttered instrumentation and saccharine vocals seemed tedious. Stuck song syndrome gradually took over, and a careful listen enshrined the album’s depth and complexity. The inventiveness and musical integrity are evident, and Oliver the Crow’s debut album is worth the listen.

RATING 7 / 10
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