Herman Dune / C Erberus Shoal - Whys And Hows Of..

  by Andrew Carver

published: 4 / 9 / 2003

---

For the first in a three-part series of collaborations with other rural-psychedelic artists, Cerberus Shoal split a CD with the folky trio Herman Duene. Herman Duene divide their portion of the CD between 4 songs of spidery backporch folk and a trio of brief, instrumental 'garajes', differentiated by a numeral (a TV sitcom plays in the background of these numbers, for some reason) . 'I Want A Woman' has acoustic guitar strumming and ramshackle percussion. Think of the Mountain Goats or Bill Oldham’s various projects and you’re not far off. 'A Sight For Soul Eyes” has some particularly nice fingerpicking, and David-Ivar Herman Duene’s broken-hearted, naif-warble is most touching. 'If Someone Loves You' is a slightly more jaunty effort, with cohorts Andre Herman Dune and Neman singing along. Squeaking violin adds atmosphere to 'That Woman Is A Murderess'. Fans of lo-fi folk will almost certainly want to investigate the band further. Like the other CDs in the series, this comes in a flexible plastic cover with a nicely printed cardstock wraparound sleeve; this one depicting an alarmingly delineated couple, who appear to have departed their usual residence on a medieval woodcut for a day at the beach. Cerberus Shoal’s turn at the plate is two numbers and a trio of instrumental 'urs'. The warbling instrument with indecipherable spoken words that opens doesn’t promise much, but it’s over quickly, and 'Sweetie', which follows, begins with a resonant acoustic guitar ,which leads into a richly harmonized, droning folk song. Deep depths are provided by — I’m guessing — a cello and bass drum. A neat woodwind riff lends a birdlike tone to the song, while a marching percussive backbeat give it drive. The heaviness of the sound reminds me of former Swans supremo Michael Gira’s the Angels of Light. 'Ur #2' sounds much like 'Ur #1'-wind instrument warbling, mumbling, but is soon soon over. 'Bouzouki' opens up with what I strongly suspect is a bouzouki. At first it’s a more threadbare effort than 'Sweetie'. A distant howl in the intro gives it a hollow feel. Later, there’s some independent whooping and hollering by the various vocalists and a tinkling music box ... a fine track, though it doesn’t have the attraction of 'Sweetie'. 'Ur #3' continues the ur theme and once again is short and, well, kind of pointless. Nonetheless, this is a tasty split.

Track Listing:-

1 HD: I Want A Woman
2 HD: Garaje #1
3 HD: A Sight For Soul Eyes
4 HD: Garaje #2
5 HD: If Someone Loves You
6 HD: Garaje #3
7 HD: That Woman Is A Murderess
8 CS: UR#1
9 CS: Sweetie
10 CS: UR#2
11 CS: Bouzouki
12 CS: UR#3

Post A Comment

---

Comment

Name

your name

Location

ie London, UK

Submit

Check box to submit

Adam Coxon
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson

Dixie Ernill
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart

Malcolm Carter
Marie Hazelwood
Mark Rowland
Nick Dent-Robinson
Nicky Crewe
Nige Nudds
Philamonjaro
Richard Lewis
Shirley Procter
Spencer Robertshaw
Steev Burgess
Steve Kinrade

Steve Miles
Tommy Gunnarsson
Zena Grieg