PINETOP SEVEN
RIGGING THE TOPLIGHTS

Recorded in the attic by Pinetop Seven
Mastered by Mike Hagler at Kingsize Sound Labs

PERSONNEL
Darren Richard: vocal, marimba, acoustic and electric guitars, loops and snare, bongo, reed organ, toy drum, accordion, organaire, chimes, piano, bells, drums, banjo
Charles Kim: guitars, pedal steel, clarinet, harmonica, nails, melodica, loops, violins, celesta, banjo, mandolin, toy piano, harmonium, xylophone, dobro
Ryan Hembrey: upright bass, bowed bass
Ken Vandermark: clarinet, bass clarinet
Andrew Bird: violins, whistling

SONGS
1. Wake
2. The Fear Of Being Found (mp3)
3. Floorboards
4. Drying Out
5. Rust In His Step
6. Our First Drunk Dream
7. 1st Of May
8. Finding The Lady In Kicking Horse Reservoir
9. Empty Hands And The Long Walk Home
10. Measuring Up
11. Heavens
12. Quit These Hills
13. Redmoon's Last Stand

REVIEW
The intermingling of rural and urban American music has spawned some of the most intriguing art of the 20th century; the constant push and pull of nature-smarts and book-smarts tugs at a uniquely American heartstring, and in the process opens a world of tense variation. Toss in all the regional variations - from the foothills to the desert to the plains to the pavement - and it seems a mystery that any two bands sound the same. Chicago (via Nashville) country band Pinetop Seven struggles with this urban/rural tension, mixing strange rhythms into its dense country music; marimbas mess with loops and snares for supremacy, while acoustic guitars, accordions, banjos and bass clarinets add glorious pull to the songs, pounding melody inside the floorboards while propelling the songs forward. The result is strangely cinematic--perhaps because Pinetop Seven owes a debt to the soundtrack excursions of Spaghetti Western-era Ennio Morricone--and fills the room with sound. There's so much texture and rhythm on Rigging The Toplights that it's a wonder the Seven can get a word or melody in edge-wise, but they do, and the whole is remarkable and highly recommended. -CMJ

Copyright 2002 Truckstop Records.