Brightback Morning Light: S/T

I wanted to like this. As a huge fan of most things Will Oldham related (Brightback started out as Rainywood who did a spilt 7″ with Bonnie Prince Billy), I almost felt it my duty to like the follow-up to their debut album recorded in Kentucky with the Oldham family. Unfortunately, this record is just plain dull.

It’s very similar to what happened with Califone after “Roomsound” where they spiraled into a pit of boring. Brightblack Morning Light is full of very long songs that are made up of minimal chord changes that seem to simply drone on and on. Even that very description sounds like something I should love, but for whatever reason it just doesn’t work here.

I love the idea, the aesthetics (look at their pictures on the Matador site and you too will fall in shaggy beard shirtless love) and the lore of this band, but for whatever reason this album just falls short with me. Maybe it’s a sheer matter of chemistry, but the simple monotone sounds contained within these ten tracks amount to a huge musical disappointment. I’m going to go cry into a bowl of ice cream for seven hours and see if this record ever grows on me.

- Chris Smith
Brightback Morninglight (Matador)