Swung from the Branches by Foxes in Fiction
LABEL: Moodgadget

Every person I’ve come in contact with over the past four years has had to endure at least one or two musically charged conversations with me. Topics usually range anywhere from the rebirth of the independent music scene to correlation between music and film. I initiate most of these conversations with a renowned and rhetorical left hook: I want to start a band. But oftentimes, I find it hard to explain exactly what music I would like to create. I salivate over a nice twee or shoegaze song, but I’ve always longed for a sort of indescribable Zen within my music.

“...this album brings to mind a dark winter night in a quiet city; the carless streets amplify each echo, the twinkling stars seem to cast a bit of shimmer all over everything, and...”

Enter Foxes in Fiction: Warren Hildebrand, master visual artist/musician, started a project that wonderfully describes exactly what words couldn’t. His songs are filled with dreamy textures, fluttering synthesizers, and the negative space that functions as something much deeper than any guitar could possibly hope to. Swung From The Branches, his latest release, is chock full of the very same aural splendor.

This is the kind of music that is, essentially, perfect. Every nuance from the soothing reverb to the soft vocal delivery to the sputtering tape edits and buzz helps contribute to this breathy and ethereal sound. In a way that’s hard to explain, this album brings to mind a dark winter night in a quiet city; the carless streets amplify each echo, the twinkling stars seem to cast a bit of shimmer all over everything, and the enormous skyscrapers pale in comparison to the emotions the music brings out. It seems almost intentional that one of the more robust compositions on the album is titled “Sleeping Building Unsuspecting.”

After years of frustration, I can finally describe the particular style of music that had eluded me. The next time a collaborator inquires about a musical style to explore, I will look no further for inspiration than Swung From The Branches.


REVIEWED BY RAYMOND CHALMÉ
RAY’S FAVE TRACKS: “Basement Window” • “Coffee Cup That Won’t Break Down” •
“Sleeping Building Unsuspecting”
Read more from Raymond on his blog, Warm Tape.





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