First, though: the album artwork. As you can see, "Weathervanes" has a cover image of a hilly landscape with clouds and a sun scene made out of multi-colored cloth, knit together, along with a stick and a button. I was in a good mood before I even listened to the first song. The album art really is a glimpse into the feel of the whole set of songs.
1. "Generator (First Floor) - Enter the banjo! This first song of the album opens things up with a bouncy, quirky instrumental introduction, with vocals gradually coming in. The song is essentially about waking up for a new day, and it's just plain happy.
2. "Hannah" - This song is one of the more humorous songs on the album. It is a song about a girl named Hannah, among other things. The lyrics are humorous, with clever rhymes mixed in that are sure to make you chuckle: "You could fake a melody, we could argue over where and when, the cymbal hits should be." At least that made a music nerd like me chuckle.
3. "Location" - Another song with really clever lyrics about sensing the, wait for it, location of someone. The melody saunters along like a person walking around looking for someone, but confident they'll find them eventually (so why hurry?). There's also a banjo solo in the middle of the song, followed by one of my favorite vocal sections of the entire cd. Needless to say, head-bopping often occurs.
4. "Channels" - A teensy bit filler-ish. It's an instrumental song with very little to it, but it's still pleasant. It almost sounds like you're hearing electronics from underwater. Interesting and pretty, but doesn't really add much to the album as a whole.
5. "Starring" - Back to the action! A poppy electronic melody starts things off and leads to one of the funniest lines of the album in my opinion: "Shut me up with your long tubesocks, they don't scream 'hey, let's just be friends!'" The song is about a boy trying to understand a girl he has clearly been trying to understand for a long time. He thinks he has been successful, but he's not entirely sure. I can sympathize.
6. "Kilojoules" - Another clever, happy song. Simple as that. I loved the use of a xylophone-like instrument as well, it makes the whole feel of the song that much lighter.
7. "Broken Horse" - Well, things can't always be happy. The girl in this song leaves the narrator and "sprinted away to where I don't know." Along with beutiful instrumentation, sounds of nature are interspersed, giving the impression that the narrator is standing outside, looking for someone he knows he won't see.
8. "Danse Flat" - Another instrumental song that is, once again very simple and pretty with a sort of machine-like feel, but doesn't add a whole lot to the album. But hey, it's only a minute long, a small sacrifice.
9. "Ghosting" - This song also has a sort of rueful sadness to it. The narrator doesn't seem to be happy about what's going on, but there's nothing he can really do about it. Near the middle of the song, there is a "gang vocals" section that really bring the song up a notch.
10. "We Could Be Friends" - This song is back to the sillyness of prior songs, and it's wonderful. The narrator is trying to convince someone to be friends with him, and the appeals he uses are both funny and endearing: "I am convinced that we have been friends, were you a Tahitian grain of sand in a past life?" How many former Tahitian grains of sand do you know?
11. "Vessels" - My favorite instrumental on the album. Wanna know why? Bring on the banjo! Near the end, the pace of the music slows down as the album begins to come to a close.
12. "Generator (Second Floor)" - This song is an oddly joyous homage to the end of life itself. The narrator tells someone that "I would ask that you lower me down slow and tell the man in the black cloak he doesn't need to trouble his good soul with those latin conjugations." What's more, the narrator tells those gathering for what I can only assume is his own funeral not to look so sad on such a nice day.
13. "The Great Estates"- This song is one of the more majestic sounding songs on the album, and it's one of my favorites. It has a spiritual theme to it, as it seems to be about souls rise to heaven. It's a beautiful song, and I'm glad to know that there's still banjo in the afterlife!
Overall, "Weathervanes" is a special album to listen to. I've never heard a cd quite like it. Outstanding instrumentation as well as vocals that always ring sincere and innocent combine to create 45 minutes of pure joy. Listen to this as you take a walk around town and everything around you will seem just a little bit brighter.
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Amazing stuff dude :)
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