A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the I Planted, Apollos Watered, But God Kept Making It Grow LP by the crushedvelvets. Not every reader of this review will have experienced any kind of skepticism at the current health and validity of rock music, but they can rest assured that it’s coming. In my own case, I remember being in university when the validity and health of rock music was being called into question; at the time, an increasing number of potential listeners were being lost to vaguely metropolitan-flavored soul music – the sort that was typifies by artists like Maxwell, Choclair, Alicia Keyes and D’Angelo. At that time, it took the likes of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, The Strokes and Queens Of The Stone Age to give rock the shove which helped it re-establish dominance but, in listening to the crushedvelvets’ debut, rock’s next batch of saviours may have their work cut out for them. The fact is that I Planted, Apollos Watered, But God Kept Making It Grow moves in from the second that needle catches groove on the album’s A-side and immediately establishes a vibe as slick and welcoming as velvet and only releases that hold when the album needs flipping to its’ other side.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s begin at the beginning of the album, and work our way in.
As soon as needle drops, listeners are introduced to “At Ease” and are immediately set at it as a drum pattern which feels like it was just played (read: not played to a click track – there is an obvious pocket to sink into, there at the beginning of “At Ease”) finds a warmth that is perfectly settling, and guitars and bass start coloring passages to make the song feel lived in. Even on first listen, there is a sense of comfort to be found in “At Ease,” and listeners will feel it before Dani Meza starts singing but, when he does, it’s perfectly apparent that he’s already feeling the rhythm as much as listeners are. Throughout the cut, Meza sighs along with a sense of satisfaction that is impossible to miss and is incredibly attractive.
“At Ease” actually sets all the precedents and parameters for the album and, after the song lets out, great attention is paid to meticulously populating the rest of the A-side of the album with likeminded entities. “Orion’s Belt” follows “At Ease” and actually feels shorter than it is because the energy in the song is just so similar to that of its’ predecessor. Happily though, the more staccato-feeling bass that powers “You’re My Style” instantly sets it apart and re-captures listeners’ collective imagination. As was true earlier, Meza keeps up his sly, understated vocal, and that keeps listeners warm through “When It Comes To You” – in spite of watery phase/chorus effects sounding like they’re trying to break Ben Lumsdaine’s perfect – and perfectly fragile – beat. That “beat interrupted” sensation is actually more unsettling than one might think and, because of that listeners will enter “Taste Of Sugar” nervously – but the beat in that songis as stable as anything by Mitch Mitchell and so the song slides along easily, even when horns bleat unexpectedly before the side ends. When it does end though, listeners will find themselves rushing to their turntables to keep the album moving – the hook is set deep into them, and hopes that the B-side is of comparable quality to the A- are high.
In fact, the B-side of the album far exceeds the quality of the A-, and the difference is evident right away. As soon as the second side’s movement gets under way, there’s a jubilant, almost playfully light step about “Here And There” that is immediately accessible. There, the bass and drums really tease listeners along and Meza has to really work to keep up as the rhythm gives his body chills he can’t forget and a chorus of female back-up singers call him (and listeners) to follow along. Granted, there is no obvious relief in the song and that helps it slip into a higher, more seductive gear, but it’s effective enough to win fans and get them to fogive the clear misstep that “Glutton For Romance” represents (the halting and hesitant manner in which the song’s lyrics are delivered makes it sound like a love song delivered by Garth Algar – it’s a farce) and lets “Got You” arrive as the culmination of love song greatness that has mostly only been hinted at, to this point. With a set of keyboards which sound like they might have been lifted out of The Doors’ catalogue in all the right ways, “Got You” presents itself as the confident turning point in the album’s creative vision; here (and after this too), the romance that’s implied feels true and not at all contrived. The energy is strong enough that it also informs “Another Type Of Sickness,” and the last embers of it continue to glow in “The World Views The Gentle As Weak” (which gets over in spite of having an abominable title) as it closes out the album.
Standing back, having run all the way through I Planted, Apollos Watered, But God Kept Making It Grow, there is simply no way to deny that it’s a complicated album. True – there are some good points – and there are also some weak ones. It’s easy to appreciate some of the music on this album, while there re also some ideas that are under-developed. Simply said, the muse which inspired the music here as well as the development of that music itself is a work in progress but, after having experienced it, listeners will have the taste for it that will get them to sample it again, and will have them hoping for an even better, richer flavor when the crushedvelvets return with a follow-up album, someday. [Bill Adams]
Artist:
https://thecrushedvelvets.bandcamp.com/album/i-planted-apollos-watered-but-god-kept-making-it-grow
https://tidal.com/browse/artist/30429574
Album:
the crushedvelvets’ I Planted, Apollos Watered, But God Kept Making It Grow LP is out now on TCV Records. Buy it here, on bandcamp.
