ZapTown

Antlerand
Branches
2006 – Sound Family

Origin: Portland, Oregon/Phoenix, Arizona
Style: Indie Rock, Multi-Instrumental

The music retail shops in Portland, Oregon must be piled to the ceiling with instruments of all kinds. With the diverse multi-instrumental conglomerates the Northwest scene generates on a regular basis, bands from The Decemberists all the way to Blind Pilot build an arsenal of instruments to rotate around in their repertoire. Whatever happened to the traditional rock and roll means of just a guitar, bass, and a drum kit?

Whatever musical army Portland is building, add Antlerand to the mix of diverse multi-instrumentalism and that marching rat-a-tat rhythm that echoes within the mountains and skyscrapers of the Oregon Territory. And with a state motto like “She flies with her own wings,” it should not be so alarming that a majority of Portland bands are on a level of their own. Chris Larson (vocals, guitars, and programming) said in an article for Magnet that it’s that unpredictability and non-classification that he likes, where something like a banjo comes in when you least expect it. (Magnet October/November 2006).

That being said, the misinterpretation of this album ran across the critical gamut often citing this confusion as a piece of the albums allure making the reviews themselves equally as confusing. Generally favorable and high on many lists, people like Treble poke at the rich electronic ambiance (http://www.treblezine.com/reviews/1267.html) present on this album, even though the programming on this album is sparse and only used as atmosphere when needed, so I’m not sure what context “rich” is meant here. Jam Base focused more on the elaborate orchestrations and all of the emotions in between, which is more acceptable with this multi-layered production. (http://www.jambase.com/Articles/8364/Anterand-Branches(-i) ). But then again, what do you do with an album of this stature. On one hand you have a group of accomplished musicians, while on the other, you have a Big Bang theory when it comes to style going from indie pomp and circumstance to folksy meanderings to Chicago-style instrumental star gazing.

Only one album in the band’s history — if you don’t count an EP when Larson and Zach Okun (guitar, bass, vibraphone, piano) recorded under the moniker Invisible — Antlerand came into the limelight as quickly as they faded back out.

At first Branches can be misleading with not one song following the same path as the others and just sort of strung about the gamut of the pop/rock indie musical universe, which coordinates with the fractal explosion of layers that is the album cover. Once you get used to their stylistic construct, you begin to get a sense of their soundtrack-style depth., mostly coming from elongated introductions that build into the song. Because of this, the first appearance of the album is instrumental (Upon First Listen thought the same – http://uponfirstlisten.blogspot.com/2006/02/review-antlerand-branches.html). But as the album develops, you eventually discover that Branches is filled with modest vocal tracks and park bench lyrical tales.

Larson’s vocals are adaptable even when he teams up to sing a duet as on “Maybe We’re Still Running” which continues into another duet on “We Know Better.” The most noticeable is “Now It’s A Year” where Sleater Kinney/Quasi’s Janet Weiss guests on vocals. And even though the sound seems forced, one thing you can say about Antlerand is their gripping attention to control within the songs themselves. You cannot deny, these are musicians in every sense of the definition. But as a whole, you have progressed no farther at the end of this album than you did going into it.