Daniel Bachman – When the Roses Come Again (2023)    


Review:
Continuing the trajectory of his releases over the past few years, Daniel Bachman moves further into the world of musique concrete, this time around combining played, found, and manipulated sounds on a laptop. Named for a Carter Family song, the words of which provide the titles for the tracks, When the Roses Come Again is a densely layered and highly detailed recording. Snatches of often heavily treated fretless banjo (sometimes with slide-like effects, as on “Till the roses come again”) and guitar share space with other sounds apparently attributable to a mouth bow (a simple one-stringed instrument for which the mouth serves as a resonator), fiddle, and samples of bells and harmonium, though these are less obvious.

The tracks are generally concise (only two exceed four minutes), but they blend together into a kind of suite. There is a satisfying balance among those that are fairly noisy, bordering on industrial (though not aggressive), such as “As I wander, I will ponder,” those that are more melodic and less dense, such as “Happy hearts that feel no pain,” and those in which the emphasis alternates between texture and melody, such as “On a summer over yonder.” Nearly always, a drone of some sort either provides the background or dominates, and the electronics or treated sounds sometimes create a rhythm, as on the closing track. The resulting blend of sweeter, more bucolic tones with shimmering and percussive electronics is initially disconcerting but comes to feel organic, like a kind of palimpsest.

It’s been fascinating to observe Bachman developing his approach to Americana from Takoma school guitar excursions to the very modern sounds featured on his recent recordings. His increasing attention to the overt symbols of roots music exemplified by his use of Carter Family material has coincided with increasing incorporation of technology and its artifacts (such as the recurring buzzes, hums, and rattles heard here). Whereas last year’s Almanac Behind used a similar approach to address the weighty, almost suffocating issue of climate change, the focus here is personal, on the cycle of death and rebirth that defines existence. This is, in other words, still serious music, yet it is not necessarily somber. Probably not coincidentally, When the Roses Come Again provides the perfect soundtrack for a drive through a land of woods, farms, and small towns dotted with Dollar General stores and cell towers. — by Jim Marks on dusted


   


Track List:
01 - Neath the Shadow, Down the Meadow
02 - Leaves Lying On Each Side
03 - By the River, Flowers Shiver (Fading Dying in Their Pride)
04 - Someone Straying, Long Delaying
05 - Sad the Parting Down the Lane
06 - I Must Leave You Someone's Saying
07 - Till the Roses Come Again
08 - As I Wander, I Will Ponder (On a Happy By and By)
09 - On a Summer Over Yonder (With Joy to You and I)
10 - Sunshine Over Clover Blossom On the Meadow Wide
11 - Summer's Fingers Sweetly Linger (Everywhere On Every Side)
12 - Someone's Roaming in the Gloaming
13 - Happy Hearts That Feel No Pain
14 - All Their Sadness Turned to Gladness
15 - Now the Roses Come Again


Media Report:
Genre: alternative folk
Origin: Fredericksburg, Virginia, U.S.A  
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits
Compression mode: Lossless
Writing library: libFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)


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