#how to rescue things

[thebeatifulones]

[vitazmuzic]

BILL ORCUTT - HOW TO RESCUE THINGS

10/10

Individual song reviews under the cut.

Listening to this album made my chest hurt in ways I can't really describe: it awakened some deep pain in my chest that had scabbed over. This album hurts, not in the way of direct pain inflicted, but by making you aware of some absent thing you never had but always needed and perhaps ignored, or had once but had forgotten about and no longer have. It hurts because it is tooth-rottingly sweet and easy— riffs and picks cutting deep into lemon meringue pie. The atmosphere of this album is crushing, reverberating, an echo chamber of absent warmth you can’t touch but can always feel. Good pain! I liked it!!! Orcutt has complete mastery over the listening experience, and the image he is trying to conjure within us is not one to be seen, but one to be felt; unlike more subtle types of ambience, he haunts me specifically with choking memories of a nostalgic past that no longer exists.

‘Sanctuary’ opens with a heavenly choir and Orcutt's guitar. Note his style is free improvisation— nothing is written down, and everything flows freely. Usually I’d expect choir to be used to build tension, but it is a delicate background to the riffs that flow freely from Orcutt's mind, soothing and flowing sweetly along at its own pace. Truly ethereal— I feel like I'm embarking on some divine journey. The harsh, biting reverb of his guitar is masterfully manipulated as if not to clash with the choir. Even in places where it happens to clash, room is always made to make a unique harmony. Although the choir fades out occasionally, it is always promised to return. The choir and drone are not suffocating in their ever-present embrace. The track is warm— loving. It reminds me of the final cantos of Paradiso in the divine comedy, where Dante looks upon the flower of god and circles back to the love he observed in the very first canto of the Inferno. It is not necessarily that this love is strictly divine, but that the love experienced is ever-present in a way that makes it a presence to worship in and of itself. Although the track ends, the guitar is left with a few quiet riffs that sound more like hums to oneself, echoes from the love of the universe to the love generated by our free will and consciousness.

In ‘Not Reconciled,’ the choir returns, this time quieted in favor of allowing the guitar to shine. A gentle voice pokes through the personal relationship between the choir and the guitar to add a little bit of structure to the loose flows and connections that arise naturally rather than being outright scripted. The improvised guitar sings in wild, adventurous tones— the atmosphere is like dancing beneath a wide sky of beautiful, sparkling stars. There may not be much structure, but the chosen style of improvisation with the background sings of the joy of free will. There's a conclusion here to be made between spirituality, religion, and human nature, but I think people should come across that conclusion on their own and fit it to how they think rather than me outright saying it— that relationship is deeply personal and intimate, but universal. The guitar drowns out the choir and hum, only for it to come back forgiving and full force at the very end. The hymnal’s constant presence makes it difficult for me to breathe, and now, I am acutely aware of how much pressure is on my ribs and how now, I can’t take a deep breath. It's simple, but incredibly effective, almost making fun of itself for what has passed. I love it. The 'amen' was silly. I liked it.

The title track, ‘How to Rescue Things,’ introduces another voice— shrill, beautiful violins. Our choir is a constant feature, and the beginning of the song fades between voices as a call-and-response, like a discussion between non-vocal figures. The track is strikingly beautiful, and the entire track feels like turning over a glittering prism in my hands, watching the colors being cast on the wall. The guitar develops and grows more complex, clashing and adventuring into new riffs, but the drone never leaves, and when the choir is allowed to accompany, it does. That being said, Orcutt's improvisation is masterful, and there is no hesitation nor awkward moments.

‘Old Hamlet’ opens with a piano that sounds quite dreamy and far away, as if someone has put a plush, velvet pillow across the strings or between the hammers. The choir is in another room, allowing the piano to accompany and shine through, a constant presence for the guitar. There is no break for the piano like there was with the choir, so the song reads more like a duet. Both are still warm, nonetheless. It is almost like a dream of something that happened previously— dreaming of old freedom, of old rebellion, of sweet Hamlet and his hauntings, of an old town somewhere in the other room.

‘Pylon Pylon!’ opens with a church bell ringing. The improvisation sounds like the vague memory of a wedding march, many chords overlaid in dual, shining unity. Part of this track and the venture into different instruments and their role in relation to the central object of the guitar makes me think about the question of where, exactly, we find comfort, or ‘Sanctuary,’ where we find love and solace— religion? Others? Politics? Duty? Ourselves? Where is love and rescue, and what truly is it? The changing, loose faces of the guitar imply that rescue is to be found wherever we are, changing with our spirit. It is us who must rescue ourselves, not any force. Again, I am reminded of the love in the universe by the lack of structure with the background choir making it chaotic but beautiful. None of this has anything to do with the album, but still: I like this track.

‘Requiem in Dust’ stays to its name well, and it brings along a string section!!! The opening sounds like a gentle goodbye. The track finds comfort in memories of what used to be, swaddling us in nostalgia (I see you, old-rock riffs) without harming us or making us yearn. When we think of rescue, we default to this reckless idealism of warm arms lifting us out, saving us from our certain fate. but when our fate is uncertain, we can only look to what used to be to try to anticipate what might happen. There’s a key change to usher in the old, jazzy big-band strings as they evoke the warmth of the old comforts— the unity of the strings and their joyful play despite the sadness of soon parting.

‘The Wild Psalms’ introduces the rest of the orchestra— brass, percussion and all. It is a wild, gently thrilling encore, the finale to a 3-hour show. I feel like I'm back in plush red velvet theater seats, like I won't need a coat when I walk back outside into the cold after escaping into this fantasy land, because all of the warmth from the show will stay with me. Without taking up too much time, the album is exhausting in a good way. In this ballet, the lovers have finally joined and united— it reminds me of the excitement of the Phantom Regiment 2011 show Romeo and Juliet, the excitement of the crowd as they run to meet each other, arms outstretched. It’s grandiose, not because it’s high-volume or because it pulls at the tension building for ages, but because we imagine it to be so. The guitar is a nice touch, sparkling chandelier reflecting light across a red-velvet room with gold accents. We find comfort in what society used to be, in the mutual act of joining in something together for passion alone. The world conjured no longer exists. Throughout all of the theater, our comfort has always originated from others, and we return to the wild, primitive, human instinct not of violence, but of connection: recklessly pure connection. Although we may orchestrate things like violence and overwhelming hurt, we will always return to each other at the end of the day, not because we were fated to, but because it is the only natural thing to do. No matter what happens, no matter what things the guitar does or what chords are struck, the orchestra ebbs in to send it off gently on a journey of its own. The only pain here is the pain of saying goodbye, heart-wrenching only because we are defying the only natural thing that separates us— the choice to engage in society and engage in connection despite the risk of falling beneath the waves again. How do you part with something you just met but have loved forever? This album does not answer that for us, as it is that object. We have experienced that love, no matter how brief it was. It lets us figure out on our own that we cannot fix things, we cannot rescue things— we can love them, and love them enough so that when they decide to rescue themselves, they can have open arms to run into.

Most of what I yapped about was my own thoughts rather than relying on one strict interpretation or lyric, so none of that should be ever taken seriously, nor should it be taken as a sure listening interpretation. I enjoy that a listening experience can be so free like that. Owing to its production and where it samples from in the last tracks, it is sappy and nostalgic of itself without being outright hurtful, romantic optimism almost resembling the dreaminess and fantasy screamed in the last few tracks. I realize now, and only so late, that the thing that was making my chest ache was missing that optimism, when the world felt so open and so simple, so stuffed full of opportunities, so open to discovery. It is universal. Nothing about this album aches, but it does to me. You don’t need to know the intricacies of the improvisation of the guitar, nor the origins of the orchestral tune playing in the background, to understand. The album is a recent release, perfect in the middle of the political turmoil of the new age of American politics and attacks. There is much corruption and turmoil going on in the outside world. But here, in the theater Orcutt creates for us, in dreamy, wide-open fields and under a canopy of glittering stars, there is some respite— some solace. Some peace. Some rescue. It is sweet, swaddling, loving— bringing us up from harshness and taking us into romantic dreams.

[trek-tracks]

kidnappers of outer space, beware

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

The Dungeon Meshi crew 'leap' into action!

[p4nishers]

i cant get over the ball being so CLEARLY all for crowley i can't get over aziraphale trying to woo him with a WHOLE FUCKING BALL because that's what he knows that's what romance IS for him because he's been wanting to dance with crowley ever since dancing was invented and he's so stuck in time with the way he dresses and talks and he still thinks a dance is the high of romance AND HE MADE A WHOLE ENTIRE FUCKING BALL FOR CROWLEY JUST SO HE COULD DANCE WITH HIM like now it's so fucking obvious he gave away his BOOKS without a second thought and it was all for crowley he organised a whole JANE AUSTEN THEME BALL just so he could have an excuse to finally dance with the love of his life and i can't get over this i'm shaking my fists and pacing up and down he did not give a single fuck about anything other than dancing with crowley and HE BARELY TOUCHED OTHER PEOPLE'S HANDS WHILE HIS WHOLE FUCKING PALM WAS PRESSED TO CROWLEY'S AND i need to lie down

[front-facing-pokemon]

[rocketbirdie]

The Rebirth B-Team that we deserved...

[thimblings]

viago "fashion police" de riva

[shorlinesorrows]

here is ur daily reminder that Kevin Day leaving the cult that raised him was never selfish

thx send post x

[zarla-s]

heavy can be a pretty princess if he wants

[patreon]

[centaur-dreaming]

Jean not understanding why Renee saved him until he’s leaving the house in just his helmet and gloves and breaking every speed limit on his way to do exactly the same thing for Jeremy

[seahorsepencils]

also can we just talk about the fact that in the Wish World, a woman can get away with calling another woman beautiful without setting off everyone's queer panic, but when a man does it to a man, it tips over the edge? so the Kates of the world are flying just under the radar, but are likely to be more emotionally repressed as a result - and yet, all the queer or queer-coded characters in this world are offered the same security and protection from doubt by the prospect of entering into an opposite-sex marriage...

[xxplastic-cubexx]

i didnt plan to spend my sunday this way

[wigglebox]

Found you ☀️

[dapper-lil-arts]

Darlings. is it gay when the phantom you created as a manifestation of your dreadfull loneliness takes the form of one of your closest friends.

Fanart of this pretty good horror rarijack fanfic, "The haunting of carroussel boutique" personaly i am surprised the writer didnt take the chance to point out how fucking funny this is. Me n kim started laughing about it during stream and i just had to draw this

[jerswayman]

↳ charlie "i've never done anything wrong in my life" mcavoy