the Channel
Tales from the Two Hill Heart / Sibylline Machine
c-side records 2006

When Tales from the Two Tale Heart / Sibylline Machine arrived - I knew it was going to take some time to absorb > digest > reflect. To make matters even more complex, the double LP came the same day C-Side Records placed Golden Bear at my flip-flop'd feet. Goodness gracious, what is a young man with but 2 faulty ears to do with all of this extremely fantastic music? "Listen". So listen I did.

The follow-up to 2004's Personalized - and their third [and fourth] LP to date - Two Hill / Sibylline could have very well fit on one cd [TH totaling 37 minutes / SM running 22; add > subtract sum from 74 {+/- a few}]... Yet! - after complete listens to both albums you will/may/should realize that these 2 albums indeed do need their very own little space to grow. Sunlight optional, water once weekly [weakly].

Where some may find Tales from the Two Hill Heart leaning slightly towards the fractured heart side ("The Deserter", "Wages Of Death"), Sibylline Machine is the dawn of a new day - sprinkled with a pleasant dose of serotonin enhancing pharmaceuticals as glistening dew ("Disco for Daisies").

If you cried yourself to sleep silently repeating "[Like] I can't believe you're not sorry and I can't go back to town / and I can't go on like this much longer - can't get any lower down" ["The Deserter"], you will awaken on a crisp linen pillowcase as "Deep Silent Seas" pulls the Sun up from the blue hills: "if you slipped you'd be stuck under deep, silent seas for days or weeks".

Fittingly (lovingly), what we end up with are two albums that generously balance one another out - both waltzing that fine line between albums that instantly awe while presenting themselves to near perfection.

These albums represent those few things that are better/bigger in Texas.

"And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely".

kaleb, quietly :: [ August of '06 ]