The Occasional Keepers - Beauty of the Empty Vessel (CD)

All Music Guide

The idea of a Sarah Records supergroup might have seemed strange (to put it mildly) to some around 1990 or so. But come 2005 and with the LTM label in full swing with reissuing a variety of bands from that stable, such a thing has happened, with the Occasional Keepers bringing together Bobby Wratten from the Field Mice/Northern Picture Library/Trembling Blue Stars and the two core stalwarts of the Wake, Caesar and Carolyn Allen. To top it all off, The Beauty of the Empty Vessel is produced by Sarah veteran Ian Catt, so it's easy to go into this debut effort with certain expectations. But while it's a logical followon from the musicians' other work, Beauty exists on its own just fine one could play it at someone who knew nothing of the band's context and the combination of reflective singing and delicate arrangements could easily be enough. Often it's a matter of the smallest touches having the greatest impact, thus Caesar's keening melodica on "Concrete Music" floating over a moody am...bient collage intro, or the rich electric guitar melody for "In Quiet Isolation," measured, beautiful and living up to the song title. "The Bracken," which starts the album, serves as a perfect précis for the band's intention the combination of serene piano, mantralike acoustic guitar and soothing woodwind is both tightly arranged and warmly inviting, a formalism that seeks to attract rather than look inwardly. When the bandmembers take even a slightly rougher approach, the effect is to seem monstrous given the album's calm thus the shift to distorted vocals on "Of Nightingales" on the chorus is almost like dropping a bomb on a calm hillside. A couple of tracks take a specific keyboard lead approach that slots in (all too readily perhaps) with the school of Magnetic Fields/Postal Service synthpopasemo, but think of "J. Carpenter Kid," with calm guest vocals from Beth Arzy (who also sings on the quite Curelike "Desire") as more Young Marble Giants tributes and all is well. - Ned Raggett, All Music Guide Read more Less