Cars and Trains - the Roots the Leaves

(on Fake Four Inc)






Listen:
cars and trains - "Intimidated by Silence"

Plaintive, pained, scuffed and scribbled, Portland based multi-instrumentalist Tom Filepp constructs an ornately cluttered attic, resonating with memory and shrouded with poetic perspective. The dusty air throbs with synthesizers and glockenspiels, your feet shuffle through pages of lyrics and occasionally unintentionally crunch on a toy piano or a xylophone, as Filepp, some wandering stranger with a heart not broken but at least singed, invites you in to this escapist folk-flared, earthy haven of songs.

It’s an evening record, to be sure, comparatively lo-fi at points, but pleasingly dressed with atmospheric electronics: timid at points, meditative, a comforting book by candlelight, but the radiating synths, echoing acoustic guitar strums and poignant mid-to-low baritone of his vocals can replicate the bracing rejuvenation of a deep inhalation of that deep forest air – making it feel akin to the sensibilities present in Frost’s poem, “Acquainted with the Night,” a good soundtrack for errant, moonlit wandering.

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