Giant Sand – Chore Of Enchantment
Linda Ray
Posted On May 1, 2000
Photos in the liner notes of Chore Of Enchantment present Howe Gelb’s home, a spare, organically random assemblage of gear and everyday objects, within graceful, discreetly painted and inviting rooms, dated only by the lintels, which as much as stamp “genuine hardwood” on the door and window frames. The only unifying themes are structural angles, and the invisible force of nature that causes things to hang from the wall in straight lines.
While the statement “Howe Gelb is Giant Sand” is occasionally unkind — an interpretation of his singular, prolific and right-up-front muse as manifest ego-tripping — it is always inaccurate. Giant Sand is Gelb’s creative ambience integrated within a subtly linear structure, fashioned lightly by bassist Joey Burns and percussionist John Convertino. No other Giant Sand project illustrates this so well as Chore.
The record’s cohesion is largely a function of the consistent presence of actual structure in these Gelb songs, set within memorable frameworks of melody and tempo, whose variety alone could sustain a listener’s interest over the 60-minute work. “Temptation Of Egg” ogles a girly Juliana Hatfield vocal with an id-driven blues groove. The music of “Satellite” defines its lyric line suggesting “You can get Leonard Nimoy to play the part of Leonard Cohen.” “Bottom Line” evokes the sound of a combo in the Marriott airport lounge; “Wolfy” circles the doorstep to an ominous hip-hop undertone.
Gelb’s voice always sounds as though he’s been caught off-guard musing to himself intriguingly about telling details that might be meaningless to a less thoughtful observer. In “Punishing Sun”, for instance, Gelb refers to “candles melting without being lit” and finds micro drama in seeds under “the promising thunder.” Will it rain? Even so, some will sprout and some will not. Rain, water, light, and their relationship to human nature are everywhere on this record, unifying lyrical themes revealed in a thoughtful sequence.
Like the photos in the liner notes, Chore Of Enchantment finds a homey balance between the random and ephemeral, the rational and immutable.
