Hear the Rivers - Greenleaf
I liked this album, not least because it reminds me of a band that I’ve listened to quite a bit in the Spotify era; All Them Witches share that dense drum and bass sound and even the vocalists sound similar.
In some ways, it’s similar to some of @Coatigan’s previous nominations in that it’s a constant, dense sound across the ten tracks with not too much variation. But I wouldn’t go as far as @mrbelfy in saying that it all sounds the same. I see where he is coming from, however, what I liked about Hear the Rivers where I’ve not been so enamoured with some of Coatigan’s previous selections is that in this case, Greenleaf are not too afraid to throw in drum breaks and guitar solos, these instrumental parts giving just enough variation to keep me interested. The break and furious riffing before the slower solo in “A Point of a Secret” is excellent and a great demonstration of the shifts in momentum of this album, and whilst the idea of a middle-8 never seems to occur to them, the idea of a well-constructed bridge does, and Greenleaf pull it off frequently during this album.
There’s a terrific guitar solo in opener, “Let It Out” and the drumming sets a standard that is maintained throughout the ten tracks. “Sweet is the Sound” has an old-time blues theme, except with lots of heavy bass and madcap drumming. I can just imagine some prison chain gang singing down by the river when the guards turn up with some big chuffin’ oil drums and hammers and say “Here, try these, lads.”
It's also worth pointing out that every track has a proper ending – no limp fades outs for these guys, just a final thump on the drum, a humming note on the guitar, a two-second breather and they’re onto the next song.
I’d avoided reading the Wikipedia definition of “desert rock” before giving this a few listens but the “distinctive repetitive drum beats, a propensity for free-form jamming, and ‘trance-like’ or ‘sludgy’ grooves” are a much better way of saying what I was trying to say in the above paragraph. Having said that, whilst drums are not usually something that I pay too much attention to, I thought that they were particularly good and varied on this album and not in the least repetitive. The rest of the description is apt, though.
Although Wikipedia lists Greenleaf as “stoner rock”, I think that the “desert rock” description above fits them well. Also, the album cover is a fantastic piece of art.
Whatever the “desert rock” moniker means, it’s irrelevant because to my ears, Hear the Rivers is an excellent slice of 21st Century hard rock. 8/10.
