7/30/2019 Balmorhea Review

1/2December 2, 2012 THE LIVING CHURCH 13

Review by Paul Wheatley

Distance becomes relative in the expanse ofbarren land stretching for countless acres inall directions around Balmorhea. When you travelthrough this westernmost area of Texas, thescrubby hills and flat fields of brush begin tobleed together, causing time to almost stop. Therhythm of fence posts and lines dividing two-laneroads serves as one of the only indicators of speedor progress toward a destination in this corner ofGods creation where the lines between minimal-ist landscapes and maximalist grandeur overlap.

The six members of Balmorhea (pronouncedBal-moor-ay), an instrumental rock group basedin Austin, are no strangers to this overlap.Throughout their discography, they have musi-cally traced the outlines and contradictions of thearea surrounding that Texas town, creating sprawl-ing compositions that range from quiet, pensiveguitar melodies to explosive crescendos of orches-tral complexity.

In its fifth album, Stranger, Balmorhea expands

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Sonic Booms from West Texas

StrangerBalmorhea

Western Vinyl

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7/30/2019 Balmorhea Review

2/214 THE LIVING CHURCH December 2, 2012

the distance traversed in its previousworks.All Is Wild, All Is Silent(2009)relied heavily on the interplay betweenacoustic guitar, banjo, violin, and cello

to create musical moments evoking theWest Texas expanse. Constellations (2010)raised its sights to the starry sky aspiano and strings swelled above mini-malist compositions more like ArvoPrt than fellow Austinite instrumental-ists Explosions in the Sky. Strangerlaunches through the stratosphere,bringing synths, voices, electric guitars,loops, xylophone, and even an occa-sional steel drum into the mix as Bal-

morhea charts heavier and morecomplex territory.Time and distance characterized the

recording ofStranger, as primary song-writers Rob Lowe and Michael Mullerworked on the albums songs at a dis-tance from Alpine (60 miles south ofBalmorhea) and Brooklyn, respectively,meeting in Chicago and Austin for stu-dio recording. While this can cause dis-

junction in a groups recordings, in the

case ofStrangerthe distance has resultedin a more experimental sound that nev-ertheless retains the focus of the bandsearlier work.

Pyrakantha is probably the greatestoutlier on the album, incorporatingrhythmic loops that border on thedanceable, along with guitar work thatflirts with prog-rock complexity. How-ever, Artifact could just as easily takethe honors, delving into the use of loud,

distortion-laden guitars, feedback, and othernoise-rock elements at the midpoint of the songbefore dropping back to a melodic, piano-basedsecond movement more reminiscent of previouscompositions. Massolan and Pilgrim offer soundsthat would be familiar to fans of Balmorheas backcatalogue, but still show the band taking steps for-ward in songwriting and composition, without los-ing its well-known restraint.

Overall, Strangerbears repeated listening, and isworthy of consideration for its beauty and absolute

defiance of genre classification. While the albumsmore experimental moments arising suddenlylike West Texas thunderstorms may strain theears, they pass as quickly as they came, leavingbehind gorgeous sonic blooms to be enjoyed as themusical scenery passes into the distance.

The Rev. Paul D. Wheatley, a 2012 graduate of Wycliffe Col-lege, Toronto, is a transitional deacon serving as associateminister for young adults, arts, and evangelism at Church ofthe Incarnation, Dallas.

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Photos by Shanesel (top) and Sara Fields