Balmorhea - Rivers Arms [2008]

For their second LP release, Austin, Texas virtuosos Balmorhea have released Rivers Arms, a new collection of fourteen instrumental tracks with a smattering of vocal overlays. I must admit that at first I was puzzled by the band’s name. No matter how I tried to pronounce it, I ended up with connotations of some extremely painful intestinal disorder. According to their website, the band’s name is actually pronounced “bal-mor-ay,” which sounds far more appealing.

There’s something magical and symbiotic that happens when cello, violin, and key arrangements come together at the right time, in the right way. Balmorhea’s sound is expansive and austere, possessed of a bittersweet sense of longing and desolation. According to the bio listed on Western Vinyl’s website, the band’s music mirrors the Texas skies; perhaps so. For my money, Rivers Arms is especially moving during the rich arrangements of tracks like “San Solomon” and “Lament.” But that’s not to say that the spacey e-bow guitar arrangements of tracks like “The Summer” are necessarily lacking. Indeed, the synergy of instrumentation taking place between Michael Muller and Rob Lowe (it’s not clear who plays what) is the key ingredient that breathes life into this music, which vaults into vertiginous crescendos only to disintegrate into whispers.

Track titles probably won’t offer much in the way of constructing a narrative. It’s difficult to glean much significance, for instance, from a title such as “Baleen Morning,” much less understand why it should follow “Greyish Tapering Ash,” yet precede “Barefoot Pilgrims.” Spoken word and arrangements and field recordings pop up here and there, but the actual messages are usually too distorted to offer much help. Again, this observation isn’t necessarily meant as a criticism. It might be more helpful to think of Rivers Arms (and many other fine albums, for that matter) as a collection of discontinuous moments rather than an attempt to construct a coherent narrative.

In general, this reviewer appreciates the depth of this album as well as the group’s proclivity to generate shorter tracks (the longest, “Process,” weighs in at 6:22). The current tendency among instrumental groups seems to be producing slow-burning, over-inflated tracks in fewer numbers, and Balmorhea’s resistance to this trend warrants them some praise.

If Rivers Arms is deserving of any criticism, it might be that the instrumentation doesn’t produce as much tension as you might find among the efforts of groups like Godspeed You! Black Emperor. In comparison, Balmorhea’s music might ring a trifle nostalgic and pastoral. Though selections like “Theme No. 1” may arouse melancholy emotions, the music never defies containment, never threatens to fly off the rails and break loose. But some fans will praise the group for this very quality. Sometimes restraint makes for powerful, emotive music, and Rivers Arms certainly delivers, albeit with a few moments of heightened intensity. I dare say Balmorhea’s Rivers Arms qualifies as a 2008 must-have. Do pick up a copy, and let me know what the hell is on the cover! Raisins? Coffee beans? Clam shells?

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Buy album via Western Vinyl!

—Major Tom