Track Listing

1. Old Black Hat With A Dandelion Flower
2. To Each His Own
3. Past The Moon
4. Ulna
5. Van Rat
6. Silverleaves In The Air Of Starseedlings
7. Ibex Horn
8. Come Around

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28387 in Music
• Released on: 2005-08-01
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

More Good Things From Eccentric Americans.
What a perfect name for this band! Feathers(The second release on Devandra Banhart's Gnomonsong label)is the first widely available recording from the Massachusetts-based collective which started out as a duo before swelling to eight members(five of which write songs)playing Acoustic guitars, electric bass, autoharp, mountain dulcimer, toy piano, sitar, Indian banjo, recorder, violin, birdcall, hooves, "hair drum" and "shoe on stick" amongst other instruments as well as sharing the vocal duties around. I must admit that I'm not that keen on Banhart himself but he does seem to have a knack for talent spotting. I got this album through a recommendation and was very pleasantly surprised.

Musically, comparisons to Incredible String Band, Espers, The Trees, The Wicker Man sound track and possibly Bright Black Morning light(but that's more in terms of philosophy than musically)come to mind but it's the underlying quality of the songs rather than the style that mark this album out as a 'cut above'. The opening track('Old Black Hat With A Dandelion Flower')is very strong and that high quality hardly is maintained throughout(although the daftly titled, but beautifully gentle, lulling of 'Silverleaves In The Air Of Starseedlings' and the slow build freak-out of 'Ibex Horn' are, possibly, my favourites), the closing number 'Come Around' sounds like an invitation to good times that it would be churlish to resist. The album could have been recorded 40 years ago but feels as vibrant as anything around these days, indeed it has a timeless quality that comes with the best music of any era.

Part of the appeal of this band is the sense that there is no affectation here, just a sincere commitment to what they are doing, that can be felt in the music. If you like folk with a bit of psychedelic frosting there is quite a lot of material to choose from at the moment but this is certainly one of the best of such albums around.