Harmonic post-rock americana with a definite and distinct sense of place.
Constellation myths are stories from various cultures, particularly Greek mythology, that explain the origins and shapes of constellations in the night sky. These myths often involve gods, heroes, and mythical creatures, who were placed among the stars as a reward or memorial for their deeds.
The definition goes a long way to help describe the overall aura of the band’s second album, “The Cost of Living”. It has an ethereal feel to it, somehow slightly otherworldly. Molly Seamans sings the majority of the songs; she has quite an extraordinary quality to her voice, which takes you to other, often unexpected places. That, coupled with eccentric lyrics, makes this an album to be taken seriously.
It surely has been a labour of love, over five years in the making, and not made in the same studio. Born out of the ashes of various indie Boston bands the long-time collaborators have developed an instinctive musical connection, as a result they write and record on their own at home away from as they put it “the noise and smells of the practise space and the other pressures that can cause other bands to sputter and dissolve”. It is then assembled like a musical jigsaw.
Many of the songs were written before their debut album, “Everything and Time”, which had a far more insular texture to it. Whereas ‘The Cost of Living’ turns its gaze outwards and examines the tensions between the natural and human-built environments. Sometimes in very stark language. Take ‘Coyotes Lower’ for example. They observe ‘Someone shot this baby coyote in the yard. Was she harmful? Maybe, surely, she didn’t deserve to die. She was out of her right mind. Fire white eyes shine crazed. Stark stuff indeed. The opening track, ‘Spare Room’, explores the disintegration of a marriage while contemplating the ageing process. It is done with such mesmerising harmony that the potential bleakness of the subject is lost on the listener. They manage to achieve this deception throughout.
“The final lyrics of the album were written and recorded in the spring of 2024. While the seeds of our current slide towards right-wing authoritarianism had certainly been planted….While these songs are not overtly political, there is a preoccupation with things very much at the heart of our current social and political crisis….. If we wrote these songs now, they’d be angrier, more raw and barbed”.
Overall, the album features a rich, layered blend of harmonies and instrumentation, some of which are remarkably intricate, given the recording conditions. It may not be to everyone’s taste and is certainly not an easy or comfortable listen – it is, however, a very rewarding one.
