Black River Killer

Albumrecensie

This seven-track companion piece to Blitzen Trapper's superb 2008 release, Furr (all of the tracks have been available to fans since early 2008 in CD-R form at the band's shows), is built around that album's darkest moment, the murder ballad "Black River Killer." While the six tracks that follow don't wallow in the same waters of failed redemption as the title track, they do cling to Furr's folksier moments, resulting in a solid addendum for those who prefer Blitzen Trapper's Bob Dylan meets the Grateful Dead fetish over their visceral, vaguely psychedelic Southern indie rock jams. Standout cuts like the breezy "Preacher's Sister's Boy," the Beatlesque "Going Down," and the straight-up Skynrd-tastic "Big Black Bird" offer further proof that the Pacific Northwest (home of the Fleet Foxes and M. Ward) is not so quietly reinventing Americana for the 21st century.