The Fear And Trembling
It’s been a good year for the 10-minute song. Just yesterday, I brought up “Sweetie Pie”, the lengthy showstopper from Computer Perfection’s debut album. A couple months earlier, Yo La Tengo increased their arsenal of 10-minute numbers with three songs at the end of their new album that were either near that length or far exceeded it. In between, Richard Hawley came out with Truelove’s Gutter, a glorious record with two songs that go on and on (and frankly, I’d be more-than-happy if they kept going and going).
The Fear And Trembling, a Brooklyn act that once called Nashville home, keep this streak of lengthy goodness going with “Octopus”, the second track off of their album of the same name. It’s a rush of a song that chugs along for 7 and a half minutes before some strings come in and ease things slightly. And just as you start to give in to its dreamy beauty, it goes into full metal mode for the last 20 seconds. It’s really a wonderful listening experience – give it a shot over at Gimmesound.
Nothing else on the album is as long as “Octopus” (close though, as almost all the tracks go past the 5-minute mark), but all of it is just as engrossing. The Fear And Trembling’s songs are full of ideas that admirably don’t feel like they’re crammed in there just for the sake of it. Instead, they flow organically, without sounding forced. No time is wasted – there are no unnecessary intros (even though there’s a track called “Introduction”, it’s free of filler) or outros, no aimless noodling or pointless soundscapes in the middle of songs.
The band also knows when to add new elements into the mix, as most songs are augmented at just the right moments with horns, strings, pedal steel, and some damn catchy piano playing. Here’s an example of the last point:
The Fear And Trembling – Red Panda
As with my Collider post earlier this week, this is a review that’s been a long time coming. Also like the Collider post, I procrastinated in writing this long enough for The Fear And Trembling to come up with another release. It’s a 3-song EP called Uncontrollable, which serves as a great sampler for all the things they do so well (the horns that come in towards the end of “The Southerner” are especially notable). Everything that I’ve said up to this point about their album can be directed towards this batch of songs, too, except for the length part, as all 3 songs come in under 5 minutes.
The entirety of Octopus, along with the Uncontrollable EP, can be heard at their Gimmesound page. If you sign up with Gimmesound, then you can also download all the tracks freely. Do it – free is good, don’t ya know?
More info on The Fear And Trembling can be found over at their Myspace page. I’ll end things with one last bit of gushing – extra kudos must go to the fine fella who designed this collage for the album cover:
That’s a thing of beauty right there, perfectly apt for the band and the music it represents.
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