Indier Than Thou: Swan Lake - Beast Moans

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Swan Lake - Beast Moans

If O.J. Simpson can write a book confessing to the murder of his wife, hypothetically, then I can review this album as though it has already been released... hypothetically. Swan Lake is the combined effort of Daniel Bejar (Destroyer, New Pornographers), Spencer Krug (Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown) and Carey Mercer (Frog Eyes). Now you may be wondering why you should care about yet another Canadian indie band supergroup, and if you don't like the music of one or more of the bands mentioned the short answer is that you shouldn't. However, the creature they have created together has something of its own voice.

The good news if you are a fan of Bejar's, Krug's or Mercer's previous work is that this album is exactly what you are looking for. Beast Moans, as their press release states, is "their debut record featuring, among other things, beast moans, starling voices, cobra hi hats and arpeggiating pianos." All of that is well and good, but the problem is that Bejar, Krug and Mercer are such distinctive and recognisable songsmiths that each of the tracks sounds like their respective bands. "The Freedom" sounds like a Destroyer song, "All Fires" a Sunset Rubdown track, "The Parisan But He's Got To Know" a Frog Eyes track, "The Freedom" a Destroyer song, "Bluebird" and "Are You Swimming in Her Pools" a Sunset Rubdown track, etc.

This is not a bad thing. The hooks in Spencer's songs are as good as any he has written for Wolf Parade or Sunset, the lyrics on Bejar's tracks are as thought-provoking and interesting as any Destroyer line ("The freedom to be alone with/ the freedom to be alone" "I put a hex/ on the telephone line/ that brought your voice to me/ disembodied and cheapening everything it used to mean") and Carey's vocals are as frantic as fans of Frog Eyes have come to expect. Taken together, some of the tracks do have a sleepy feel, like the songs you half-hear from across the lake at someone else's summer cottage. The feeling is shattered though with the fragmentary styles refusing to gel, making the album more a poorly put-together mix-tape from a musically savvy friend than the product of three combined artists.

This is a little surprising considering how close Mercer and Krug are. Krug has been an occasional member of Frog Eyes since the release of "The Bloody Hand", and they used to be roommates! They both toured with Bejar, played on "Notorious Lightning and Other Works" and formed Destroyer's band on the European tour of "Your Blues". For all this co-operation, Swan Lake have only a fleetingly coherent sound. If I hadn't been such a fan of their main gigs, I doubt I would have given this record a second spin.

However, perhaps the lack of a consistent and distinct sound is a good sign. Swan Lake could have tried to force some painfully artificial "combined style", like a dilettante DJ making his first mash-up. The choir of exaggerated efforts and compromise to the furious vortex of resigned cooperation is nowhere to be found. Instead you have some neat songs that don't go well together, but sound pretty good. Swan Lake's moans are not so much those of one beast, but more the dissonant cries of three murders headed in different directions. Or, some other, better, metaphor.
-kit.

All Fires (mp3)
The Freedom (mp3)

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