“Down Down Down”
from the album Inter-Be
2010
iTunes
There is an inherent familiarity embedded deep within the songs on Inter-Be, the stellar debut record from the Minneapolis-based duo Peter Wolf Crier. That’s not to say that these tracks are knockoffs or pale imitations of other bands sound or style; it’s just that these songs have an intimacy and warmth to them that proves to be instantly identifiable, as if you’ve heard them being sung before around a smoky campfire in your dreams. These numbers are just incredibly lived-in and remarkably genuine, exuding a sense of truth and honesty that has been ingrained in our society for decades but perhaps forgotten about in these churlish modern times. The record is at once a breath of fresh air but also a nod to a simpler era, when parties ended with everyone singing around the piano not because they wanted a record deal, but because music stirred deep within their souls. Inter-Be, if you allow it to, will shake you free from your current concerns and daily doldrums, helping remind you of what really matters while surely stirring your soul in the process.
Peter Pisano wrote the songs that would become Inter-Be in a fitful burst following a creative lull which set in after the dissolution of his former band, the Wars Of 1812. He enlisted his friend Brien Moen to help him record the tracks, using whatever instruments happened to be around Moen’s house at the time, which also served as a makeshift studio for the duo. That spontaneous, patchwork approach colors these songs with unexpected flourishes, and helps add to the warmth and urgency of the album. Both Pisano and Moen have roots in the fruitful Eau Claire, Wisconsin music scene that produced Bon Iver and the Daredevil Christopher Wright, amongst others, and Peter Wolf Crier’s stark, unvarnished sound clearly is reminiscent of their notable peers. There are also hints of the bold, front porch Americana of early M. Ward layered within their sound, but the pair take those various influences and distill them down to simple, stirring arrangements that pulse with depth and feeling, augmented by Pisano’s plaintive vocals that are imbued by both deep pain and profound beauty.
The album opens with the folksy strum of “Crutch & Cane,” which slowly evolves into a foot-stomping singalong. But the album really hits its stride on the somber triumvirate of “Hard As Nails,” “Down Down Down,” and “Untitled 101,” which all quiver with an intensity and vulnerability that make them instantly absorbing and quite captivating. The looped beats of “Untitled 101′ is a bit jarring at first, considering the relative stripped-down nature of the rest of the album, but it proves to be a welcome contemporary twist that sets their sound firmly in the present-day, with the ragtime piano fills providing a nice retro feel that perfectly balances out the modern elements. And it’s that steady symmetry that makes this record so intriguing and sound so original, with the tone and tenor of these songs anchored solidly in both the present and the past.
The band experiments with layered vocals and various sound effects that brighten up the extended coda of “For Now,” which leads nicely into “You’re So High,” not only the most straightforward, poppiest song on the record, but also the most fully-formed, with each disparate part coalescing strongly around Pisano’s uncomplicated chords and Moen’s steady beat. “Demo 01,” as the title alludes to, retreats drastically from that finished form, with the song gradually swelling from Pisano’s desolate vocals and guitar, slowly picking up the delicate strains of a piano and faint drums on its journey to completion. The melody at the beginning of “Lion” sounds distinctly like the National’s “Daughters of the Soho Riots,” and while threads of the song are prevalent throughout the track, the band does manage to pour enough of themselves into the number to entirely make it their own. The doleful ballad “Saturday Night” wouldn’t seem out of place on For Emma, Forever Ago, and strongly sets up the poignant finishing track “In Response,” which ends the album on a passionate high. Peter Wolf Crier have crafted a compellingly dramatic debut album, filled with both integrity and inventiveness. Inter-Be reflects the bold first steps of a band coming together out of the ashes of writers block and failed projects, while delivering a solid statement that their moment has indeed arrived.