Vetiver :: Tight Knit

vetiver-tight-knit.jpgAs a listener, and a fan, I buy into the world of Vetiver, or at least what I imagine the world of Vetiver to be – what I want it to be.   It’s a place filled with dusty vinyl, vintage amps, seasoned sweaters, stone-built Bay area fireplaces and a little bit of mystery. And personally, I prefer a little mystery in my music — the suspension of disbelief; something that is albeit harder to come by in the Internet-age (and, yes, I fully grasp the irony of writing this in a music blog).

In 2008 Andy Cabic and company released an LP and EP of late-sixties and early seventies covers, Thing of The Past and More of The Past, respectively, that deftly captured the underlying essence of, not only Vetiver, but everything I love about crate digger vintage folk, pop and rock. Sure, vinyl fetishists can wax all day long on the sound and warmth of the medium, but most will also admit that a big part of the experience are those weird, obscure and out-of-print finds that turn up at the most unexpected places (i.e. garage sales, thrift stores, your parent’s basement). These finds in turn contain an air of mystery, sometimes revealing nothing other than their musical contents besides the dusty jacket, album artwork, tracklisting and possibly the previous owners old address labels half-glued to the cardboard sleeve. They’re an open book.

This week Vetiver released Tight Knit, their Sub Pop debut, and fourth full-length LP. Not surprisingly Tight Knit takes cues from all those old LPs in Cabic’s collection and, like his previous output, distills them into his own. Those who have kept up with Vetiver have seen the tasteful evolution from finger-picking folk (see the Golden Apples of The Sun comp) to a more fleshed out, dynamic, instrumentation. This continues on Tight Knit, balancing the soft spoken, Golden Coast, acoustic-based passages with worked up, slightly funky, jams that would not seem out of place on any number of the aforementioned ’70s vinyl LPs you bump into when you least expect it. Like the best of Vetiver, this one burns slow, and rewards with time.

Download:
MP3: Vetiver :: Everyday
MP3: Vetiver :: Another Reason to Go
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8 thoughts on “Vetiver :: Tight Knit

  1. Great record and band. For whomever is in Austin during SXSW, come see them at my day party, The Dog and Pony Show, on Thursday March 19th at 5 PM at Opal Divine’s Freehouse with 8 other great bands including The Henry Clay People at 4 PM…

  2. While I enjoyed the album, I did not enjoy it as much as Thing of the Past or More of the Past. Tight Knit, unfortunately, deviates too much from Vetiver’s folk roots, making it incohesive with the Vetiver’s 2008 masterpieces. Pitchfork gave it a 7.2/10 – I will bestow it a 6.5/10. While worthy of a listen, it lacks Vetiver’s signature folky touch to make it a true folk masterpiece (along with other outstanding flaws). Enjoyable in a different way than Vetiver’s other oeuvre and perfectly decent in multiple ways.

  3. I was blown away by “To Find Me Gone”, and further impressed by the covers records last year. Absolutely cannot wait to let this new one do its thing to me.

    Any chance of a re-up on the originals from Thing/More Of The Past? I missed the boat the first time around and would love a second chance…

  4. On another (unrelated) note, The Hold Steady has sold out (read the heading on Pitchfork – it’s incredibly unhip to open for the Dave Matthews Band).

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