ARBOURETUM - Rites Of Uncovering

Listening to "Rites Of Uncovering", the mind loses itself in an instant flashback that resurrects sounds from some fifteen years ago, when Sparklehorse, Hayden and solo Mark Eitzel were making headlines - that breed of singular characters who, in the '90s, gave a clear imprinting to the singer-songwriter's way of being: hyper-depressed mood, the attitude of an eternal loser, and an approach largely centred on the writing process rather than sonic exploration.

Not much time has passed, and yet it feels like a century, but the fact remains that Dave Heumann, already a collaborator of Bonnie Prince Billy, Anomoanon, Cass McCombs and Papa M, builds the Arbouretum project by clearly drawing on those very stylistic coordinates. "Rites Of Uncovering" is a solid slice of indie singer-songwriter fare of the kind once made back then, and that's hardly surprising given the circles our man has moved in. The problem, if anything, lies in the scant will to rework the formula. Not a single variation, not one attempt to move beyond the already-heard, not a comma out of place - the end result, let's say it straight away, comes across as far too flat and predictable. What saves the record? The songwriting (and the reviewer's own nostalgic streak), certainly above average if not more, so that the slowcore of "Signposts And Instruments" recalls the best of David Bazan, just as "Sleep of Shiloam" - a suicide-note delivery and a remarkable slice of blues rock, though bordering on self-indulgence - does too.

The absolute peak is the limping "Mohammed's Hex And Beauty", which, despite sounding like a kind of Will Oldham meets some random teen-drama singer-songwriter, succeeds well in its flagellating intent. After that? Not much else worth noting, aside from the muddled "The Rise", a poorly-realised epigone of Grateful Dead's hard-psychedelic jams in alternative-rock guise.

The crowded circle of the defeated gains a new loser - did we really need it?

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30/04/2026