The Pull of Autumn - Afterglow

Fifteen songs: and the download playlist bounces like a pinball amongst tunes that are listed as alternative (9), electronic (2), indie pop (3), and ambient (1). Whew! This one’s all over the color spectrum.

Truly, this is a collection of great talents from the Boston/Rhode Island scene. I’m sure to miss someone. So, perhaps the record should come with one of those wonderous Pete Frame family rock trees, which, after all these years, put to use my ability to understand reality by diagramming sentences in English class. Thank you, Sister Edward Marie! And I still think The Dangling Participles would be a pretty cool name for a rock band.

(Speaking of which) Well, after careful consideration, this record has a direct lineage to the supergroups of the 70’s like Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young or The Moody Blues. A Steve Stills song will never be mistaken for a tune by Neil Young; and likewise, a spacey mellotron epic by The Moodies’ Mike Pindar is a universe away from a Ray Thomas’ light pop style. And to go one step further into the dangerous and esoteric world of Finnish prog rock, the band Wigwam managed to contain the talents of keyboard compositions of Jukka Gustavson, which juxtapose the weird pop of Jim Pembroke, and then (the great) Pekka Pohjola just played jazz.

So, as Aldous Huxley once wrote, “You pays your money and you takes your choice.”

Truthfully, The Pull of Autumn doesn’t sound like any of the before-mentioned bands; but this record, like strong supergroups everywhere, bristles with talent that morphs the unity of the record into a shared spotlight of equally great songs, performed by equally great musicians. The first tune, “Injure the Swallow,” is a spacey synth and electronics collage by Daniel Darrow, with Jeanne Batting’s vocals wafting through the cosmos. But then, Luke Skyscraper James’s “Trouble Time” is poppy, quick-stepped, and urgent rock music. Yeah, The Cars come to mind because this is pretty clever early 80’s stuff, with very current lyrics. And a piano slowly embraces “Distance,” a Maria Kuzenetosva and Mina Hunt ballad (with Mina on vocals), while a string synth urges the tune into an orbit far away from planet pop.

Ah, but there’s even more variety: “They Went Up” is slow and haunted, not unlike the more accessible Scott Walker stuff. It’s all quite dramatic, with string synth and vocals, once again. “Haunted by the Rain” is equally slow and dramatic, with vocals by Richard Vincent Adams, and is framed with piano and synth sounds. But (suddenly) safety belts are required because “Not Coming Down” is post-punk, almost in the Joy Division or Julian Cope/Teardrop Explodes songbook. Then the Bruce Macleod (where did he come come?) song, “The Stars or the Jungle,” percolates with jazzy trumpets and slowly dissolves into spacey electronics. “Crack the Red” (written a and sung by Stewart Anderson who didn’t play on the other tunes) is a nice bit of quick pop, that sort of fits into this collective ethos.

Then there is a cover of Moby Grape’s “Sitting by the Window,” sung by Bruce Macleod, the guy who wrote that jazzy “The Stars or the Jungle.” PoA give the song a nice synth ride in place of the original guitar bit. They do a really nice version of Felt’s “Stained Glass Windows.” This one floats on the rarified air which Lawrence intended.

The somewhat constant Luke Skyscraper James returns for “Sacred Ground.” This is another pretty great acoustic and very urgent pop song. And there’s a rare guitar solo to boot! It’s nice to hear a familiar face.

Now, I just have to say this. There is so much talent in this band. But, too many cooks, perhaps, should cook a few solo records. I mean, the next song, “Equinox,” is the (almost) solo composition of Fred Abong, and, of course (again), where did he come from? Then “Colder House,” which is a really nice folky tune, allows Richard Vincent Adams to re-enter the grooves of the record, this time with Luke Skyscraper James, again, on vocals. This song reaches for psych heaven in a very pleasant way.

“Hey America!” returns to the almost constant presence of Luke Skyscraper James, that is a late 60’s psychedelic kaleidoscope sound with a great chorus.

And then, in the end, there was ambience. “Wallow,” written by Apolonia and Daniel Darrow, sings a soft song as it drifts beyond the known universe into beautiful silence.

This is an easy record to like. It, despite all the rumples of various players who offer uneven rest like that sofa on which Crosby, Stills & Nash sit on their first album cover, begs for solo albums; but like The Iroquois Confederacy (or any great rock ‘n’ roll band), it concedes its ego, thankfully, to a collective and very varied melodic rock ‘n’ roll soul.