Balmorhea Rivers Arms by: Steve Scully Wed:13-Feb-08 Label: Western Vinyl Year: 2008 WB rating 30 out of 100

Balmorhea present the listeners with Classical-inspired, lo-fi instrumental soundscapes, both soothing and confronting. Each track elicits a different sense of frustration, intentional and unintentional.

The whole album is dedicated to the beauty of the band’s namesake, the man-made recreational reservoir Balmorhea Lake. Pilfering track names from related topics (‘San Solomon’, the reprised track, alludes to the San Solomon Springs, which feeds the Lake), it’s a very pretty concept, but one that suffers from tedium. For the most part very one-dimensional, it’s a collection of quiet pieces in which blatant emotiveness takes the front seat, hand-in-hand with some obviously classically-trained fingers, to create calculated and mathematically sound music. Unfortunately, there’s not an ounce of liveliness to be had.

‘Lament’ is a beautiful piece. The gradual build of the melancholic piano is engrossing enough, but when the violin enters the fray the track hits its straps perfectly. Similarly, the dramatic ‘The Winter’ is passionately belted out on the piano, accompanied by violin and cello to gorgeous effect. The acoustic guitar-driven ‘The Summer’ is one of Rivers Arms’ less successful tracks. Repetitive and, let’s face it, cheesy, the piece bases itself on something that many have had the sense to ignore in recent times: ‘Classical Gas’ style guitar picking that has become all too hackneyed and sickeningly overused. The album follows these tracks like precedent: a depressing piano, whining violin or rushed acoustic guitar weaving their way through impressive practical complexities that belie the complete lack of melodic ingenuity.

One moment of Rivers Arms stands out as the most ambitious step in the album’s make-up, as well as the most painful misstep of all. The track ‘Context’ does exactly what its title implies: it’s a mish-mash of sampled voices and atmospheric noises, accompanied by a little piano and strings here and there. It sounds nice, but it rubs you up the wrong way in its pretentious existence. While some allude and some imply, Balmorhea state; while some people prefer to let others infer, Balmorhea lead you by the hand and say, “that’s what we’re talking about.” The ‘Context’ track is perhaps one of the least artistic moments on record, as subtlety is thrown out the window completely.

It may work as a score perhaps, but in all, Balmorhea’s is as complete and accomplished a work of pure tedium we have seen in 2008. The year may still be young, but one suspects they’ll be tough to topple in the race for this crown.