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The first track of this album is what one might expect to hear
while a far-eastern band tunes up; a little jangly and tinny twang,
like the familiar strum of a sitar. The second track is a near-perfect
synthesis of late-80s, early-90s R.E.M. which I half expected
the rest of the album to be. Fortunately, Arbouretum seems
to have used that as merely a starting point from which they push
their music to move along a somewhat twisted but easily-traveled
path. It is a pleasant listen that faintly stirs the soul, but
won't exactly rattle your world. One of the borrowed affectations
of this music that continues throughout is the stoic, anti-emo,
or maybe mono-emo drone reminiscent of the old R.E.M. that will
provide the needed "sigh of life" that some listeners
seek from their music - or merely aggravate those who need to
be put through the emotional wringer. I tend to think of this
stuff as "desert music"; a form that evokes a bleak
reflection of spartan plains where one does not seek the beauty
of domain's lush detail, but the grandeur of distant horizons
etched into the canvas of a big sky.
Long Live the Well-Doer is an introspective album that
mopishly plods along, but the band's talent for songwriting, vocals
and instrumentation are all adept enough that I think it could
be enjoyed even by those who aren't the most appreciative of this
particularly melancholy style (like me). It contains the folksy
simplicity of Inouk's No Danger, but isn't quite
as stylistically multi-dimensional or wide-ranging. This gives
a little rise for concern regarding future endeavors if the settled-in
style that the album eventually arrives at is the end of Arbouretum's
attempts to shape and evolve their sound. I personally, however,
would like to think that this is just the beginning of a long,
slow and successful burn.
-JD
Track Listing:
1. Sands and Sands
2. Jonas Got a Tooth
3. Don't Let it Show
4. I am a Somnabulist
5. People Flock not to the Good
6. Wisteria
7. Early Bird Gets the Worm
8. All that Will be has Become, All that has Come isn't Gone
9. Song's a Seed in My Garden
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