Our Brother The Native - Make Amends For We Are Merely Empty Vessels
[FatCat]

The prodigious trio of Joshua Bertram, Chaz Knapp and John-Michael Foss, otherwise known as Our Brother the Native, are not your average band. Having recorded their debut material and inked a label deal with FatCat without ever meeting one another, (Yes! Myspace really can open doors for you) the band only started rehearsing on the eve of their first live appearance, yet remarkably pulled the whole thing off. Bertram’s Mother, meanwhile, features prominently on debut album “Tooth and Claw” (review link), while this release includes a recording of her son from when he was aged just four. Throw in their mystifying cover/remix of Radiohead’s “Videotape” and it is safe to say that Our Brother the Native are not just any band.

Released to critical acclaim in 2006, “Tooth and Claw” was recorded when both Foss and Bertram were just 16. A product of their environment and resources it was a fragmented affair that crucially lacked focus and appeared almost too childlike. However, despite such ad-hoc recording practices there was also a certain charm to this album to advocate FatCat’s decision to dig deeply into their pockets and back OBTN. Sure, there was an obvious Animal Collective influence, but then there was also those irresistible vocal harmonies, the precocious musicianship, the rumbles of lo-fi static and, of course, their ‘slapdash, anything goes’ delivery. Simply put, there was enormous potential bubbling under the surface of their kaleidoscopic ideas and I am happy to report that this impossibly young trio has ‘struck the oil’ that has been conglomerating underneath all this time, on their sophomore outing.

“Make Amends for We Are Merely Empty Vessels” doesn’t just smooth over the rough edges of its predecessor, it completely obliterates them. Those Animal Collective comparisons have been rendered useless too as Bertram and co. expand the OBTN sound into several different styles, setting the controls of their particular ‘vessel’ for the heart of the sun. From the moment the evolving, other-worldly drones of “Rejoice” seep through your speakers and merge into a window-shattering segment of grindcore-like screams and sinister guitar wails, you will know this is an album like no other. Genres are taken by hand and molded into something completely new, like a piece of malleable putty.

Is it possible that OBTN have become older, wiser and more world-weary? It’s certainly feasible; there is an edge of spirituality to the album’s title that manifests itself in the music throughout. Indeed, “Make Amends…” connects with themes prevalent within family and friendship through OBTN’s use of their range of emotions and textures. “Younger”, which features that 15 year old recording of Joshua, mixes fragments of voices from family members past and present with swirling poltergeist vocals, skewed melodies and fanfare percussion. It shouldn’t work, but it does as OBTN add layer upon layer of that peculiar charisma they possess in abundance. It is also worth noting that this record is a much darker proposition than “Tooth and Claw”. Reference the mystical ambient-folk of “Trees Part I” which mixes glacial atmospherics with strange, free-folk chanting while anchoring “Make Amends...” in sinister territories.

The gospel influenced mantra on “The Multitudes Are Dispersing” soon morphs into an A Silver Mt Zion-shadowing campfire sing-along, via ghostly radio excerpts and echoic piano, like Pink Floyd only with the slow-motion button on. It is unashamedly experimental, yet totally immersive. Delightfully, OBTN have also chosen to include the timeless “We Are the Living”, the real highlight from last year’s FatCat sampler. Easily the most accessible track featured, it is difficult not to find one lost within the infectious nostalgia of the perpetual chorus and its psychedelic pop tendencies.

An album that both tantalizes and tests, “Make Amends...” finds Our Brother the Native on riveting form. They have signed, sealed and delivered a career-defining album at such a ridiculously early stage, dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s as they go along. Several songs purposefully exceed double figures in running time, mushrooming from one style to another before you are left scratching your head as to how they managed it all. Absolutely awe-inspiring, it boggles the mind to think of what they can achieve once they reach adulthood.

Track Listing:

1. Rejoice
2. As They Fell Beneath Us
3. We Are The Living
4. Trees Part 1
5. Trees Part 2
6. Younger
7. Untitled
8. The Multitudes Are Dispersing