Rafter - Music For Total Chickens - [Asthmatic Kitty]
2007-03-24
A sexy rugged voice and a soothing acoustic guitar – everything you need for a quiet heart moving pop album - you can find it all in Rafter's new album. So what keeps him from being that heart warming singer-songwriter? probably the apocalyptic drum rhythms, the noisy distorted guitars that soon take on the lead, and the overall sound of complete chaos. And the pain, my god the pain.
"Music for total chickens" is described as a broken-sweet-pop album; this is probably the most accurate way to describe it. It is like the lover you've always dreamt of, so perfect in every way, but then you find out she's sleeping with all your friends. You become attached, enthusiastic and then emotionally crushed.
From the second the first track "Encouragement" starts, you are given hope, only for it to be taken away from you seconds later, just to set you up for the experience; Few seconds of clean but rug vocals break into an odd rhythm and a questionable keyboard sound. "Tragedy", the 3rd track, is a quiet a ballade, with a nice female vocal to fill the beautiful photo that builds in your head throughout the song. Track 5, "Gentle man" begins with a fast riff only to slow down to less then mid tempo when Rafter's vocals come in, slowing down his singing rate as well with the music.
And so throughout this 18 track album, each track travels between the warm blanket of your beddings (I will mention "Tragedy" once more) and waking up in the centre of a busy industrial facility ("Unassailable"). To picture the blending perfectly, imagine your mother singing you lullabies near your bed in that industrial facility.
The production on the album is superb; Creative, fearless of experimentation, this to mention to the softer side as well as the painful side. Unlike most artists, Rafter knows how to keep his ideas fresh, interesting, and right lengthwise. He presents his genuine musical concept for the song, plays with it for a while, but cuts it short before you can say "ok, we got the idea". I can count the number of artists who have that gift on one hand.
The Singer-Songwriter genre is lacking of brilliant, exploring and interesting minds; If I could fit Rafter into this genre I will say that he is one of the most fascinating artists I've heard in some time now, well actually, I can give him that credit in lots of genres which he may fit as well. This is a must-have for every true music lover, who likes his listening experience to be exciting and adventuress. If you're not one of those, cheer up, the new Air album is out.
Roy Povarchik
