MUSIC BLOG

Foxtails Brigade, Chat with Sivan 7-inch Review

• Author: Katherine Hoffert
• Published: Friday, August 07, 2009

On their debut 7-inch, Chat with Sivan, the Bay Area stringed-folk duo Foxtails Brigade give us a taste of their upcoming full length, The Bread and the Bait, and a peek into their vivid imagination. Pressed on clear vinyl and featuring gorgeous hand-drawn antiquated artwork, the record is enchanting right down to the last detail; even the flies are a nice touch as they circle around while the album plays.

Side A's title track sweeps you through the looking glass into a dream-like hallucination about the sweetness of life and death, showcasing Laura Weinbach's weightless vocals and classical guitar prowess, and Sivan Sadeh's communicative violin. Pregnant pauses separate the different movements of the song, and a recurring singsong melody alternately gives way to more turbulent atmospheres marked by feverish guitar picking, paranoid violin and impressionistic lyrics that swarm with "queen communist killer bees."

"Foxtails Brigade" is born in the backyard with musings like "Daisies smile bright while roses fight...When morning glories whisper the secrets of night / Black-eyed Susans wait with second sight," and laments the loss of innocence. A snare drum rolls in and out of the song, briefly sharing a heartbeat with the guitar, and, with dramatic crescendo, the strings join together in a theatrical waltz as "the Foxtails Brigade marches on." Like on the title track, Weinbach instills the impeccably crafted song with unique chord progressions and complex guitar plucking that often resembles the sound of a harp.

Where many two-piece bands try to make up for their small numbers in the studio by layering the hell out of their recordings, Foxtails Brigade choose a more stripped-down approach, showing an impressive amount of restraint. The result is stirring, hypnotic and beautiful to behold. I'm excited to escape with them this Sunday night, August 9, at Café du Nord for their 7-inch release celebration with Agent Ribbons, Devotionals and Garrett Pierce.
www.foxtailsbrigade.com
-Katherine Hoffert