Album Review: From the Fingers of Trees, by Mal Madrigal
November 18th, 2009 | Published in Music Reviews
If the life of a band and the mood of an album can be encapsulated in one song, then “Arrived”, the lead track from Mal Madrigal’s forthcoming From the Fingers of Trees would be a fitting choice.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Electricity builds instantly from the opening cord as Spanish-style guitar gently pulls back the curtains revealing a stark, vast expanse of desert. Gray, dirty mountains loom in the background. Tumbleweeds and rattlesnakes enter stage left, prodded by a hollow electric guitar. The camera pans to the right. A village sleeps uneasy. Smoke rises in the distance.
Ennio Morricone is cracking his Italian knuckles somewhere, sitting on the edge of his seat.
Wispy acoustic guitar blends into rhythmic picking and strumming as the electric continues to poke.
A soft voice appears. Drums fade in low.
The scene builds lyrically and sonically in a pattern that will be repeated throughout the album.
The wind kicks up. Prayers are whispered.
Three minutes in and repeating the words “Will you arrive? Will you arrive?” the electric guitars do just that. Like a storm rolling in across the plains, it opens up, unleashing the attack you knew was coming. From over the hills the bandidos flood in. Hidden soldiers are waiting for them, and a world that was quiet and eerie erupts into fire.
Lyrically, nothing like this is going on. I’m ruining everything, I know and I’m sorry, but Mal Madrigal’s music has so many cinematic qualities you can’t help but watch the pictures that project on the screens in your mind.
You feel this album in your stomach. You feel this album on your scalp and on all of your little mammalian hairs as fireflies float from the speakers and descend upon you, hovering gently just above your skin.
Diving into the lyrics you see things you weren’t picturing. This world that spins as a CD and on vinyl is full of canyons, concealing treasures in caves and in shadows.
The dust settles. The camera pans away slowly. The scene in front of you darkens.
Mal Madrigal’s From the Fingers of Trees, will be released far and wide on January 5th, 2010.
You can pick up early copies at the release show on Saturday, December 26th at the Slowdown in Omaha.
They will be playing this Sunday, November 22nd, at the Slowdown.
Links:
Official site: www.malmadrigal.com
myspace: www.myspace.com/malmadrigalmusic
Saddle Creek store: http://store.saddle-creek.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=SCOS&Category_Code=Mal_Madrigal
the Slowdown: www.theslowdown.com
