Description
Ive always wanted to use that title, Sam Beam says of Hens Teeth, his eighth full-length album and his sixth for Sub Pop Records. I just love it. To me it suggests the impossible. Hens teeth do not exist. And thats what this record felt like: a gift that shouldnt be there but it is. An impossible thing but its real. The world of Hens Teeth is earthier, darker, more robust and more tactile than that of Sam’s previous album Light Verse. The songs have titles like Roses, Robins Egg, Dates and Dead People, Singing Saw. Run into the one you love forever / Laugh into each others empty mouth, Beam sings on Roses, the albums first track. Its one of several songs in which lovers are depicted as so deeply entwined they physically merge. Paper and Stone recalls that But for the time we fell in two / Youd be me and Id be you / One crust of bread could fit in our mouths / Youd breathe in and Id let it out. And on In Your Ocean, we find Beam Praying for dry ground / Though I only want to drown / When I find myself swimming in your ocean. Hens Teeth and Light Verse are siblings of a sort. They were recorded during the same sessions after a year-long dry spell, with the same band, at Waystation studio in Laurel Canyon. When Ive been on a writing kick, and the band can meet me where Im at, they push me into something I hadnt imagined. Im at a point in my life where spontaneity is a lot more important to me. I dont have as much to prove as I used to. Im a lot freer and I love making music more than ever. There are no right or wrong answers. You just pray for your luck and try your best. Available on CD and Oxblood coloured vinyl LP.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.