Carla Torgerson - vocals, guitars, noises
Terri Moeller - drums, percussion
Glenn Slater - keyboards
Fred Chalenor - bass
Chris Eckman - vocals, guitars, piano
Terri Moeller - drums, percussion
Glenn Slater - keyboards
Fred Chalenor - bass
Chris Eckman - vocals, guitars, piano
"Trail Of Stars" is the Walkabouts' tenth album that is being released eleven years after their debut "See Beautiful Rattlesnake Gardens". In these eleven years the Walkabouts have developed their vision of a touching, deeply humane "folk music" beyond any american superficiality. Music for and about the people. Music from their american tradition's context. Music that, in its early days, combined the affinity to life and power of observation of the hobos and balladeers, of the gospel and folk singers, of the ancient american songwriters with the raw power of British punk. When Chris Eckman and Carla Torgerson first met in 1983, they formed exactly these two antagonists: Eckman with his electric guitar, playing Buzzcocks songs, Torgerson on the acoustic with her folk influences. Throughout their band history, this contrast has always formed a huge part of the Walkabouts' uniqueness, although their range of musical expression has steadily grown over the years. The Walkabouts are now far from being the so-called 'folkrockers' of those early times.
"See Beautiful Rattlesnake Gardens" was enthusiastically received by the press despite its minor insufficiencies in sound. The band did not at all seem to fit into what was reigning their hometown Seattle's music scene at that time. Garage punk, metal and american provincialism had just born a bastard called "Grunge" that had chosen the small musician's label "Sub Pop" as its homebase. And all of a sudden, the Walkabouts were amongst it, being signed by "Sub Pop" as the first "non-grunge-band". "Sub Pop" addicts did not believe their ears.
Between 1989 and 1991 the Walkabouts (featuring - among Chris Eckman and Carla Torgerson - Grant Eckman on drums, Michael Wells on bass and Glenn Slater on keyboards) released their albums "Cataract" and "Scavenger" as well as the EP "Rag And Bone" on "Sub Pop" ("Rag And Bone" and "Cataract" now being available on one long-playing cd). They toured extensively, e.g. with "Camper Van Beethoven" and the "Verlaines" before leaving "Sub Pop" in 1992 by mutual agreement - at least they left "Sub Pop"'s Seattle headquarters because "Sub Pop Europe" (at that time practically identical with Glitterhouse Records) immediately took over and released the next Walkabouts' albums until their farewell for Virgin in 1994. "New West Motel" (1993), "Satisfied Mind" (1993), "Setting The Woods On Fire" (1994), live mailorder release "To Hell And Back" (1994) as well as the band's farewell present to their label, compilation "Death Valley Days - Lost Songs And Rarities, 1985 - 1995" took the Walkabouts to one of the European Independent market's top positions.
Their songwriting skills, with stylistic features of their own from the right beginning, had developed step by step during those years. While "New West Motel" showed up with whirling guitar sounds and songs in e.g. Neil Young's tradition, "Satisfied Mind" of the same year uncovered the Walkabouts' other side: favorite cover versions, mainly performed with acoustic instruments and polished to shining jewels with the help of numerous musical friends. "Setting The Woods On Fire", however, already indicated the band's abilities for future achievements in pop music enterprises: dark, mournful ballads vary with intrusive uptempo songs, prescribing their development from indie-folk to melancholic urban pop music.
The more the Walkabouts found themselves dealing with international items, the more their songs changed into urban hymns of twilight reflected by pavements wet with rain. Their melancholic sense of reality led the band into consistent seriousness and depth. "Devil's Road" as well as "Nighttown" touched with their chamber-musical character and their ingeniously arranged strings. The co-operation with Warsaw Philharmonics on "Devil's Road" made a great stir and the following live performances featuring this orchestra had something of a triumphal procession. "Nighttown" refined this newly developed tendency in their music to the point and thus prepared grounds for "Trail Of Stars". Because here the Walkabouts present themselves in a more reduced way than ever. A fascinating pursuit of consecutive development as "Trail Of Stars" lets their songs breathe deeper and more impressive. This album carries the band's expressive abilities in every single note and controls a piece of spartan, air-giving piece of music in the best of meanings. As music's true art is omission you can breathtakingly well observe the Walkabouts precisely employing their means for the sake of the song. Everything is a little better, a little more surprising. Eckman's as well as Torgerson's voices sound more immediate than ever; Terri Moeller's drums accentuate in an almost jazzy way; electronic bits fit in harmonically. And new bassman Fred Chalenor lets his rhythmic skills - backing on his experience he made with John Zorn and alikes - support the songs to a sensitive maximum. Everything shines forth in splendour, and there are nice little things to discover in some of those formerly unlighted corners.
A brilliant sorting of those things did Phill Brown who recorded and co-produced the album. His talent for warm, roomy and yet light arrangements that carry their secrets in each note, played and not played, has been profoundly given evidence of on the last two Talk Talk albums ("Spirit Of Eden" and "Laughing Stock"), in his work with Mark Hollis, Kristin Hersh, etc. "Trail Of Stars" is another referencial album in his gallery of works.
You will get the feeling that "Trail Of Stars" could be the definitive Walkabouts album — the essence that one will look back upon from some point in the future. As a milestone of a band's development, a band that has exemplarily shaped their way and their nature. 100% Walkabouts.
