About Me
Conifer, "Crown Fire"
Written by Important
Friday, 27 June 2008
Relase date: September 12th, 2008.
Though Conifer has received quite a bit of critical praise they've somehow managed to live off the grid for the past six years. With Crown Fire Conifer is finally getting the exposure they deserve. Mixing post-rock, kraut-rock, metal and pschychedlia they have created this relentlessly driving and hypnotic masterpiece. Crown Fire's only vocals are from Oxbow's Eugene Robinson fronting the albums final 13 minute epic. LP version limited to 500 copies with 200 on color vinyl.
Conifer has been writing primarily instrumental music with a lawless take on the styles from which they've taken cue. New content is found by way of augmenting brutality and suspense with time. Conifer seems to reckon with the notions of bands like Enemymine, Mogwai, or Grails while taking an approach toward their music that's entirely meditative (as opposed to premeditated). Minimal, ethereal passages are narcotically lengthened and crescendos of distortion are sustained well beyond the boundaries adhered to by many of their peers. "Heavy" by way of being beat/repetition heavy in not only a Shellac/Helmet sense but in a way that is practically reminiscent of electronic discipline. Crushing riffs amidst the most ethereal, minimal moments.
Six years in, Conifer has emerged from their mind forest into the clearing that is their future and their past. Band members have come and gone and come again. Crown Fire is the latest battle that Conifer has fought in the war of obtuse movement. Welcoming dense riffage washes over the listener for the first half of the record, referencing pan Asian themes and musical manifest destiny. The bombast that is their live show comes through loud and clear, intertwined with moments of delicate reflection. Without warning it all goes wrong, the mainframe explodes, the ships crash, the tide of despair and denial rises never to recede.
THE PLAYERS:
Zachary E. Howard-baritone guitar
Nate Nadeau- Drums, percussion, Hammond, electronics
Sean K. Hadley- Bass, Melodica
Leif J. Sherman Curtis- Guitar, Xylophone
THE GUESTS:
Shannon Allen- Cello, Flute
Todd Hutchisen- Pedal Steel
Eugene Robinson- Vocals
TRACKLISTING:
Surface Fire
Cruciform Empennage
A History Of Dissapoinment
Song for Krom
Breathe Hold
Into the Gauntlet
Crown Fire
Crown Fire LP 2008 Important Records
Conifer/Ocean Split Vinyl LP 2007 Important Records
Conifer s/t LP 2004 Notcommon Records, Trademark, 43rd Parallel
"judging from this ferocious slab of indie rock / metal sludge hypno-pummel, Conifer sleepily trawl through the dark recesses of post rock, taking the languorous slow burning churn of bands like Slint or Seam Or Bastro, all dark and brooding, simple and insistent, and stretching the riffs and melodies into expansive stretches of moody melancholy, swathed in Pink Floydian swoosh and whirl........ before dropping the BOMB."
-Aquarius Records 2004
"on this latest track (yep, one sidelong epic) they seem to have jettisoned any sort of metal completely. Not to say it's not heavy, it most certainly is, it's just not really sludgy, or that metallic, and it suits them. Right out of the gate, they lock into a super intense, relentless propulsive krautrock groove, hypnotic, mathy, complex, unfurling a super mesmerizing jam. But things shift dramatically when the vocals kick in, the band lurch.... into a strange crooned vocal line over a strange convoluted rhythm. Catchy, melodic, and weirdly poppy. But the last 10 minutes or so totally seal the deal (if it wasn't already), a super stripped down southern style(?) kraut jam, looped riff, simple propulsive drumming, and some killer guitar harmonies that go from epic and soaring to weird and warbly, and it's all we can do to not use one of our three wishes to get that last part to go on until the end of time..."
-Aquarius Records 2007
"An elemental doom match-up here, wood versus water, from the sorely underrated Conifer and pretty much correctly rated Ocean. Both bands revolve around the en vogue axis of doom, slow and heavy with almighty track lengths, although what makes this match-up so satisfying is that both bands have a subtly different take on the genre that means that they complement each other nicely. To be more exact, it's Conifer's approach that provides the contrast. Ocean's track is impressive in its grandeur, baroque in its construction and proficient in its delivery..... Conifer however follow on from their fine debut album from a few years back, which seemed to fly over the heads of most people after something more prosaic, with a beautifully lumbering (though never clumsy) epic that dispenses with the traditional depressive chords for a sense of positivity, for a want of a better word. This dense fug of rock is genuinely catchy and has these excellent breakdowns that appear every so often"
-Kunal Nandi, Collective Zine* * * * * * *
