8.27.2012

Ethan Daniel Davidson :: "The Dogs Howl, The Caravan Moves On"

It's rare but not impossible to see crushing punctuation in a song title. It easily could have been a semicolon, upping the ante on the whole project, but here, the comma becomes a terrible arbiter of limits, "The Dogs Howl, The Caravan Moves On" operating like the indifference of the universe itself. A comma has rarely been this alone, holding two independent clauses together with a sort of agonizing disdain. For Ethan Daniel Davidson and his first recording in seven years, the isolation of the title becomes the isolation of the music. Rooted primarily in a downcast organ progression, Davidson adds little flecks to the periphery, prickling little guitars and his hushed baritone. It is the ultimate slow-drive, elements of Leonard Cohen at the edges, appropriate for a song about packing up and turning your eyes against the sentiments of departure. It is austere and lush at once, completely reserved in its lyrical construction while the arrangement is plaintive and pretty in its own morose universe.

Listen :: Ethan Daniel Davidson - "The Dogs Howl, The Caravan Moves On."
Listen :: Ethan Daniel Davidson - "Ain't The Man I Used To Be"

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