Chris Bathgate— Dreamscape a la Bathgate

Some albums sneak up on you and some just club you over the head. Chris Bathgate clubbed me. Not ten seconds into the opening track of Dizzy Seas I was ready to write a review of the second coming of Greg Laswell. It isn’t, of course, but the music rings as true. Chris Bathgate is one hell of a talent and “Water” is certainly in the same class as “Through Toledo” and “High and Low” from Laswell’s excellent Through Toledo album (my pick, easily, as the 2003 Album of the Year), thanks partially to Bathgate’s heavily reverbed voice. There is something about the sandy but not gritty textures of the voices and the soft, floating tones.

Of course, when “Water” ended, so did the comparison— sort of. Laswell had just emerged from self-imposed exile when he recorded Through Toledo, his wife having ended their marriage abruptly. Perhaps Bathgate had also emerged from some ethereal state of mind as Dizzy Seas slowly pieced itself together. I mean, when one opens up one’s soul…

“Water” has enough reverb and tremolo to make an old friend of mine go berserk. He even hated it on the old rockabilly records from the fifties on which it was demanded. He considered their use an insult to musicianship. I understand to a degree because some musicians have a tendency to overuse any musical toy, hoping for that musical edge missing in many of their songs. Well, Chuck, let me put that to rest right off. Bathgate not only uses them a lot, he uses them to great advantage. In fact, they not only set the mood, they string the songs together. They help give them depth. From the aforementioned “Water” to the Americana-ish “O(h)m” to the rocker of the LP, “Beg,” the sound flows freely, most of it gliding over an instrumental background dipped and sometimes buried in electronica. Indeed, “Hide” is almost monk-like in its presentation— slow and sparse but not plodding— more a deep look within.

I had a feeling about Bathgate. I found him a bit late (he has released a handful of top quality albums and EPs over the years), but how can you dismiss a guy who titles album Throatsleep and A Cork Tale Wake and songs “Smiles Like a Fist” and “Little Bird in Coffin Come.” When you hear them, they are more than poetry, they are reverberations of moments in time. Not many know how to capture those. I am thankful that Bathgate does.

The first video from the album is of a song titled “Northern Country Trail.” When asked to describe it by NPR, Bathgate said this…

“While the song is based on considering romantic tensions while hiking in the woods, there’s another side to the song – one that is about reality, perception, and memory. The video for ‘Northern Country Trail’ is a theatrical and actual representation of my process. It was shot in the place the song was recorded and written. The melody and the lyrics (save for one line) came to me during a hike on the North Country Trail in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. It was the kind of hike where your mind reels out of the place you are in. The team at Rhino Media shot most of this footage there, in the actual space the song formed in my mind. They also shot in the same studio I recorded almost all of Dizzy Seas in, High Bias Recording in Detroit, MI. I believe the footage you see of me singing is actually my first line of vocal in the audio recording. We worked on this video simultaneously to the album’s creation. I consider it (this video) a vocal take daydream of a hike, riddled with daydream. It’s song about your mind and body doing different things at once. The recording process feels like that to me. Listening to a portion of music you’ve recorded, imagining the portions you haven’t, performing music and listening to yourself perform that music, while considering what inspired it.”

He has a process. It has worked for well over a decade now, but I think he has finally found his voice. I have listened to Dizzy Seas numerous different times and in many different situations and I can attest to its completeness and excellence. The last time was last night prior to retiring for the night. When I reached for the light switch, I realized that I had found another topnotch three-in-the-morning album— the one you reach for when you come home exhausted and need that transition from active to sleep. There aren’t that many out there, you know. And this one is a beauty.

Close your eyes and listen to this. Maybe it will help you understand.

Release date is May 19^th. It will be a good day.  I promise.