A WEATHER - Cove

A single word sitting atop the album, so "anonymous" as to carry no specific connotation of genre or style, yet at the same time "ambiguous" enough to be open to multiple interpretations. That's how Aaron Gerber, frontman of A Weather, explains in an interview the choice of title for his band's debut, an album released by Team Love, the label owned by Conor Oberst (aka Bright Eyes) and produced under the guidance of Adam Selzer, the mastermind behind Norfolk & Western, who with his usual skill once again proves himself a meticulous and discerning producer.

The abstract and rather cryptic name of the American quintet only adds to the mystery surrounding the title "Cove", making it hard to guess beforehand what kind of sound the Portland band might go for.

The mystery deepens in the opening of the first track, where Sarah Winchester's drums start out alone, laying down a rhythm that's slow but so "neutral" it can't be pinned to any particular genre, leaving the listener holding their breath for a few more seconds, until the gently soft entrance of the keyboard begins to part the clouds over the light, dreamy atmospheres that mainly drive the album, and the subsequent choral entrance of the two voices — Aaron's soft, hushed one and Sarah's languidly delicate one — confirms this feeling, dispelling any remaining doubt.

Yet over the course of the nine lengthy tracks that make up their debut album, A Weather never commit to one definitive direction, preferring instead to alternate — often even within the same song — delicately intimate atmospheres with airier, more complex moments, the latter underscored by intricate, lush arrangements paired with rich instrumentation and a search for melodies with a distinctly pop flavor.

A folk-inflected guitar, an ever-present and pervasive drum kit (sometimes delicate, sometimes more assertive), a smooth organ: all pieces that form a bed of sound on which to lay the enchanting vocal lines traced by Aaron Gerber and Sarah Winchester, whose nearly whispered voices chase each other before meeting and intertwining or merging, depending on the moment, tenderly sinking into one another without ever overpowering each other. And it's precisely in the quietly sensual interplay between the two vocalists that the warm heart of this work resides. The lyrics, simple and melancholic at once, complete with skillful brushstrokes the picture painted by A Weather.

The well-balanced mix between the dreamy, folk-ish and more intensely emotional atmospheres of some tracks ("Pilot's Arrow", "Oh My Stars") and the more melodic, pop-leaning moments of others ("Small Potatoes", "Pinky Toe") makes "Cove" a highly compelling debut, without a single dip in quality.

The only blemish on this work lies, perhaps, in the excessive length of some compositions and the lack of a truly driving track. But once these venial sins of (artistic) youth are set aside, a bright future seems to be in store for A Weather, and it wouldn't be surprising if, perhaps as soon as their next record, the long-awaited success — both popular and critical — finally arrives.

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25/05/2008