Label: Misra Records

Web site: summerhymns.com

Release Date: November 21, 2006

Summer Hymns - Backwards Masks
Matthew Ralph

There is something about Zachary Grisham's voice that is so incredibly hypnotic. I thought it was only me that had trouble staying awake while driving listening to Summer Hymns but on a recent journey with passengers I was the only one still awake halfway through a rotation of "Backward Masks."

That shouldn't be taken as a knock. Rather, it should be a warning. This is a hypnotic record with the uncanny ability to put you in a daze no matter the time of day.

It's also perhaps the finest Summer Hymns release to date. But then again, it seems I say that about every release this Athens, Ga. unit drop.

A mixture of fuzzed out indie-rock, country, folk and straight up '70s rock and roll, "Backward Masks" likely would not play Satanic messages if you took the vinyl version and played it backwards. As slow as lazily as Grisham sings, it's probably more total nonsense than it is anything subversively sinister.

Creative in his delivery and the way he spins his lyrics, Grisham sings lines like "I was watching MTV mixed with pity and envy, baseball sucks and so does life I'm going on strike" on the song "Pity and Envy."

But for all the attention I can't help but paying to the vocals, it's ultimately the musical arrangements that make Summer Hymns record after record. This offering is no exception, most notably on the song "Start Swimming."

The first couple times through, the song is laid back country-tinged rock. But then, about three minutes in it explodes into an all-out Who-inspired jam proving that with a little patience your ears can be rewarded. I keep going back to the slow transformation of the song and the repeating line "I know your heart is tired from running" that eventually sticks into your brain and doesn't let go.

Other examples of the band's brilliant musical arrangements abound on what is another fine and long-awaited recording from an all-too-often overlooked band.

posted [03.03.07]

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