State Bird "Marching Thru the Wilderness" (The Record Machine)
By
Monday. Jan 08, 12:02 AM
Someone in Ohio is spiking holy water.

Marching Thru the Wilderness may be the best album I’ve heard in 2006. There, I said it. For anyone who has ever turned a blind ear to religious music (like myself), this will be your exception. And for those who attend church weekly, you’ll be in heaven (haha).

Coming from a non-religious background, I must admit I was skeptical of this album at first. The fact that it yields song titles such as "He is Light and Behold the Lamb (by Way of Sea)" had me worried. Yet once the music began, I felt I was hearing something new. Not the usual Jesus freak music I understood throughout high school. I was experiencing simple, soothing arrangements twisted through sporadic changes that range from guitar to xylophone to air organ to trumpet to kazoo to whatever else it is that they play (believe it or not, I’m leaving many instruments out). The use of silence throughout the songs is flawless, and the dynamics are aged like a stinky block of Wisconsin cheddar.

For the most part, I criticize albums for being mundane, citing that, “…the songs all sound the same, and the flow of the album suffers from it.” I have written that many times in my life. Needless to say, this is not the case on Marching Thru the Wilderness. The featured instruments on the album are constantly changing. The opener begins by showcasing the air horn and piano and gently shifting attention to vocals and a slimy British style guitar. The fifth track begins with choir vocals and bells yet shifts attention to piano. Throughout the album, the methods of Cody Hartzler and Jared Riblet are as hard to figure out as a woman during menstruation.

Yet through all of the work put into production, the most impressive aspect of the album are in fact Hartzler and Riblet’s vocals. They are honest, constantly harmonizing, and ever changing in presentation. A rarity in music today and a delight for the listener.

Over the course of the past few weeks, I have pondered this album very much. Through all of my thoughts, I was left with one inevitable conclusion: someone in Ohio is spiking the holy water at First Baptist Church. No other explanation is sufficient. You have been warned.
www.therecordmachine.net

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John Butler

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