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Readers of my column, if any, may have noted that I've taken a bit of an interest in crows in the past couple of years. So I'm predisposed to like this disc, which is a concept album based around crows and crow behavior. Levi Fuller is a local Seattle musician and songwriter working in an experimental folk vein. The hypnotic opening track "As the Crow Flies" weaves its spell with repeating acoustic guitar figures and vocal lines. There's some Phillip Glass-style marimba playing at the end of the crescendoing "Bread." Fuller injects some dark humor into some of the tracks: "The Crows Are Getting Smarter" and "Crow Meeting" both imagine crows rising up against humans. The latter is from a crow point of view, and the former imagines an unholy crow-dolphin alliance. The former track and the track that follows it, "Crow Lady," feature organ and have a 70s Pink Floyd feel to them. Fuller's deft acoustic guitar playing is featured again on "Eyeballs," which is a solo guitar piece until the last minute, when cello, heavy drums, and vocals come in. The disc melds the traditional and experimental in some different ways: "Canary : Coalmine :: Crow : _______" (a title that may induce SAT flashbacks) is slow-core alt-country, and the instrumentation on "This Murder Won't Hurt You" consists of banjo and what sounds like banging on a sheet of metal. Crows' behavior and intelligence makes them fascinating and slightly spooky creatures; Fuller's off-kilter music is well suited for his choice of subject matter—and vice versa. (mike.03.06)
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