Town
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| Ticonderoga - The Heilig-Levine LP - 54º40'
or Fight! |
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| ““Town” starts off with some crude acoustic guitar
strumming and vocals before piano introduces a vamp that takes hold for
the remainder of the song. Layers of percussion, synth, and horns march
around the piano figure, giving the song a hypnotic throb. A mini drum
break in the middle seems a bit excessive, but the vocalist's clever phrasing
when the song resumes its shape atones for the excess. What starts out
like a country lament evolves into a taut, engaging post-punk dirge – definitely
deserving of several close listens.” - Jon Rooney |
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| “Ticonderoga continues to grow by leaps and bounds and “Town,” one
of the tracks on the upcoming The Helig-Levine LP, shows
that this little outfit from down yonder in the experiment with noise and
subversive song structures patch has been learning to cobble together seemingly
disparate elements these last few years and that if this ain’t the
record that finally sees the band get some respect, then it’s the
one before. The track’s got plenty of acoustic guitar, plenty of
blurps and bops and it doesn’t resolve in any way that you’d
expect it to. You can feel the Pavement influences at work, as surely as
you can tell that the boys have listened to Radiohead, but then who hasn’t?
Save this one for twilight or sunrise but don’t listen to it in the
middle of the day––it’s too heavy, too thought-provoking
for all that, Slim. (Oh, and if you’re shuffling it around on some
contraption or another, make sure whatever follows has a slide guitar in
it. Trust me.).” - Jedd Beaudoin |
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| “Without having heard much – well, any – of Ticonderoga's
other work, I'm at a loss to put this song into any sort of context. But,
in a good way, it reminds me a lot of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot-era Wilco, owing
to its
cryptic, impressionist lyrics and a sonic adventurousness that's like some
kind of junkyard pastiche. The singer's vocals in the first two verses
seem half-hearted and often ring false, as though he were an apathetic
improv poet; but that aside, the song has an eerie, metamorphic beauty
that keeps bringing me back to it.” – Eric J. Iannelli |
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| “Ticonderoga crafts ambitious arrangements in a post-rock context
without an ounce of unnecessary flab resulting from their attentions. “Town” is
an excellent example of the group’s multi-layered compositional style;
and yet, each constituent element is presented with clarity. The vocal
melody floats over a rambunctious bass line that has a mind of its own – interplay
between the two creates a delicious tension which is kept up for much of
the song’s duration. Meanwhile, strummed chords, atmospheric edges
and lithe percussion fill in the rest of the texture. Instrumental breaks
deliberately attack the song’s continuity, keeping the listener wondering
just when that vocal melody will wind its way back into the mix.” -
Christian Carey |
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