Divining Rod – Hemlock Blues / Love Come Tumbling (Review)

Divining Rod - Hemlock Blues / Love Come Tumbling (Review)

Divining Rod’s has just released a state-of-the-art album by the name of ‘Hemlock Blues / Love Come Tumbling’ that omits that trendy recording efforts by modern bands and brings music back to its core elements of timeless songwriting.

The fast-paced nature of the extended play provides a solidified cohesion within the foundational frequencies of the tracks. Furthermore, Divining Rod puts a psychedelic touch to the folk genre surfacing a vividness within the sound spectrum with heavy FX processing throughout the engineering platform.

The arpeggiated aspects of the sound tremble within the vocal compositions while the mixing maintains an honest balance through an unconventional means of production. There is a sense of raw/carnal musicianship embedded on this EP that holds a bare bones attitude to the recording development – The ambient soundscapes are highly capable in relation with the gritty edginess of the music’s most contagious portions.

The arpeggiated guitar oscillates with impressive finger picking in an improvisational execution of performance. There is a deep introspection held in plain view throughout the music that reinforces the professional lyricism possessed within the compositions that is both genuine and resilient to the congruency of their sound.

In additional, the conceptualization holds a relationship with the deep chord progressions manufacturing a sense of language that transcends traditional communication to the very souls of the passionate listening audience.

You can listen to ‘Hemlock Blues / Love Come Tumbling’ by Divining Rod here:

PRESS RELEASE:

As Miyuki Furtado gears up for the release of “Hemlock Blues/”Love Come Tumbling,” the two track EP preview of his duo’s upcoming full length debut Return to Crystal Cove, the Hawaiian born, Brooklyn based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist reveals the simple reasons why he chose the clever name Divining Rod for the trippy, hard driving folk, country and soul flavored psych-rock he creates with guitarist Patrick Harmon. “I liked the idea of something that is one part holy relic and one part con game, where you can’t tell what is truth and what is fabricated,” he says.

Understanding that a divining rod is a tool used for locating ground water, buried metals, ores, gemstone and oils in the ground makes the name a perfect metaphor for their eclectic vibe that taps into everything from country, bluegrass and Hawaiian music to tropical music, atmospheric sounds and the vibes of classic bands like Patrick’s favorites, The Cure and My Bloody Valentine. Miyuki, a longtime member of the internationally renowned NYC based indie rock band The Rogers Sisters, found the perfect musical counterpart in Patrick, whose unique guitar textures were, the singer says, “like a wrench thrown into what I was writing. At one point we were adding drums to guitar loops and guitar loops to drums, but then we evolved into an acoustic based act with percussion and guitar. With Patrick, what I was doing on my own developed into an organic conversation and we became a full-fledged rock band.”

Recorded in just a few frantic days with Grammy-nominated producer/mixer/engineer Brian Forbes, the pace that Miyuki and Patrick kept in recording the album helped keep the songs honest and intense. The first day of tracking, Miyuki drummed all 12 tracks. He says, “We basically set up mics, got sounds and played. What you hear is what you get. When we went in to record, we knew what we had to do and we did it.” The beautiful juxtaposition of their sound is made possible by Patrick’s sweeping psychedelic soundscapes, which romp through a musical landscape full of infectious melodies and simmering chaos.

Asked why he chose for the EP “Hemlock Blues,” a hard driving, jangling and metronomic jam about an agoraphobe, and “Love Come Tumbling,” a fusion of Buddy Holly, country comfort, and West African calypso based on a lucid dream, Miyuki says, “They stand out as examples of the earliest and then the most recent paths my songwriting has taken.” Simply put, these two songs serve as bookends for a shelf containing volumes of life lessons that Miyuki has gathered from years of touring, precious time spent with his father in Kauai before his passing and the childhood memories that being a dad to his own daughter has helped him reclaim. The album will feature “The Silver Ship,” about his feeling lost as he tries to be the best dad he can be, and “Darling Down the Row,” which he wrote at his own father’s bedside the final week of his life.

Eventually, despite this devastating loss, new songs slowly began to develop as well as a new outlook on life. “While nursing my dad,” Miyuki says, “I realized that the big moments in life are not necessarily the most important. Rather, it’s the small, intimate memories like the warmth of the sun on your face on a late summer’s day or the smoky taste of coffee in the morning or the way someone you love runs their fingers through your hair. Fragments of moments; smells, colors, and the way it makes you feel. That’s the essence of living. ”

 

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