8 - Tuesday, March 20, 2007

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com


The 45th Ann Arbor Film Festival opens
tonight at 7 p.m. at the Michigan The-
ater. Tickets for the evening go for $12
and cover a reception, a screening of
films in competition and an after-par-
ty. Get them now at ticketweb.com. Look
for full coverage in Thursday's B-side.
Ah! Unhappy dolls

By SHERI JANKELOVITZ
DailyArts Writer
It may seem like the killer-doll
markethasalready
been monopo-
lized by a certain
red-haired fiend D
named Chucky, Dead
but "Dead Silence" Silence
is bringing this
classic horror sub- At Quality16
species back to and Showcase
life. Universal
Well, "back to
life" may be an
exaggeration, since the film doesn't
really have anything new to offer,
but in today's market of gore-heavy
and special-effects driven horror
films, "Dead Silence" is a fairly nice
surprise.
The film centers on the oldtime
legend of a ventriloquist named
Mary Shaw. Mary was killed by a
mob of angry villagers who cut out
her tongue before murdering her
- just like any real mob would do.
Now she lives on through the pup-
pets she was buried with, vowing
to kill every descendant of the men
who killed her.
In order to stop her, Jamie (Ryan
Kwanten, "Flicka") returns to his
childhood town of Raven's Fair.
Along the way he's pursued by
Detective Lipton (Donnie Wahl-
berg, "Saw II"), the standard Holly-
wood prototype of a cop with a quirk
(his: inexplicable constant shav-
ing). Detective Lipton is convinced
Jamie is responsible for the murder

of his wife, and doesn'tbelieve in all
of these "ghost stories." Cue stan-
dard-horror fog machine.
For once, however, a horror film
boasts a fresh gimmick. This one's
main strength lies in its occasional
removal of all sound - they don't
call it "Dead Silence" for nothing.
At these points there's a certain feel-
ing of dread, often missing in many
of today's mainstream horror films,
although it does seem a bit unnec-
essary to beat the audience over
the head with hundreds of shots of
pseduo-menacing puppets. We get
it - they're freaky.
"Dead Silence" is from the cre-
ators of "Saw," so it's almost certain
that there will be some type of crazy
twist at the end. If "Dead Silence"
doesn't disappoint in this regard,
'Dolls' meets 'Saw'
with less sound,
more shaving.
however, it's due mostly to the fact
that it's absolutely ridiculous.
For the horror buffs in the crowd,
this innocuous little film will be pre-
dictable and routine. For everyone
else, there are plenty of the classic
"gotcha!" moments and stereotypi-
cal characters that you shovel your
money toward week after week.
That said, for my part, I've had
worse Saturday afternoons.

Eee
'Mouse
acookie
VETERANS
MODEST MOUSE
EVOLVE NEW
SOUND
By MATT EMERY
Daily Arts Writer
Good News for People Who Love Bad News
(2004) created quite a predicament for Mod-
est Mouse. It fashioned two varied groups of
listeners - one being the
purists, pissed off with the
departure of the band from ***-
relative indie rock obscu-
rity, and the other: teen girls, Modest
shouting "Oh my God! Mod-
est Mouse!" when they heard MOUSe
"Float On" on the radio. We Were Dead
The original fan-base will Before the Ship
complain that the band has Even Sank
"sold out," but finding harsh
criticism for Good News that Epic
doesn't involve the phrase
"the old stuff was better" was
difficult. So inherently, old Modest fans willbe
disgruntled by We Were Dead Before the Ship
Even Sank, and though the album is their most
accessible yet, it doesn't take away from their
penchant for trying new things and making
them work successfully.
We WereDeadis a slight continuation of Good
News - featuring more glimpses of optimism
and aesthetically pleasing harmonies juxta-
posed with lead singer Isaac Brock's callous
vocals - which may or may not be a bad thing
... depending on your loyalties to the group.
"Fire It Up" features normal song conventions
with a discernible chorus and bridge section

I'.
0
7

and a hopeful ending from Brock: "Well we
always, always, had it all." "Little Motel" is a
fluffy, harmonic contemplation on love, unlike
their downtrodden, cynical productions of the
past.
The addition of Smiths' guitarist Johnny
Marr to the group was the most eagerly antici-
pated storyline, but the move remains incon-
sequential, as most songs don't exhibit a new
guitar sound. But many offer richer harmo-
nies and less grating slide-guitar work than
past efforts, perhaps due to Marr's presence.
"Dashboard" may be the most obvious exam-
ple, and will also be the most hated track on the
album by purists. Quick and poppy guitar riffs
meet a horn and a Far Eastern-sounding string
section that strays miles away from their early
aesthetic. Isaac Brock's uncharacteristically
sub-par lyrics are a surprise as well: "Well it
would've been, could've been worse than you
would ever know / Oh, the dashboard melted,
but we still have the radio."
Despite "Dashboard," We Were Dead doesn't
lose any of Brock's frank lyrical abilities, ones
that still posit him as one of the most under-
rated lyricists of the current generation. The
sharp "Parting of Sensory" sees Brock and
company returning to the depressing territory
of The Moon andAntarctica (2002), "Just a way
to pull apart / Dehydrate back into minerals /
A life long walk to the same exact spot." The
song effortlessly flows toward an uproarious
climax of handclaps, vocal layering and violin
as Brock stringently bellows "Someday you

Courtesyof Epic
Careful, kids.
They bite.
will die, somehow, and someone's gonna steal
your carbon."
Modest Mouse also adds to their laundry
list of collaborators on We Were Dead, enlisting
the vocal abilities of James Mercer (The Shins),
who makes a peculiar addition considering the
contrasting styles of their respective bands.
"Missed the Boat" boasts a backing chorus
from Mercer and fades into a "Float On" type
groove without all the poppy effects. Mercer's
vocals echo Brock's in "We've Got Everything,"
a choppy foot-stomper melded together by the
pair's unique harmonic blend.
Two of the albums closers successfully
combine the new Modest Mouse with the old.
"Spitting Venom" fuses the heavy guitar mish-
mashes of This is a LongDrive for Someone with
Nothing to Think About (1996) with the new-
school horns and Brock's in-your-face lyrical
rantings. "People as Places as People" may be
one of the most simplistic effort on the album,
but still packs a steady punch, held down by
its direct lyrics: "It was not the intention / But
we let it all go /Well it messed up the function
/ And sure fucked up the flow / I hardly have
people that I needed to know / Cause you're
the people that I wanted to know."
Whatever the reason for their new sound
- search for stardom, Johnny Marr, boredom
- We Were Dead doesn't disappoint. No, it's
not the old Mouse, and we won't have another
Lonesome Crowded West, but Brock and crew
are here to stay. So stop whining you purists,
and quietly enjoy this fine album.

I

9


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Just 'Breathe' and
pay. attention

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By ANNA ASH
Daily Arts Writer
Breathe Owl Breathe isn't your
average acoustic folk duo. If Cat
Stevens and
The Books got
together over a
hearty bowl of
mint-chocolate- Breathe Owl
chip ice cream
and wrote a Breathe
few tunes about Canadian Shield
sledding and
black bears, they Earthwork
might come up
with something
that slightly resembles BOB's latest
album, Canadian Shield.
Anyone hailing from the north-
ern parts of Michigan might have
already been graced by Breathe Owl
Breathe's earthy folk at last sum-
mer's Blissfest or Dunegrass music
festivals. And if you were one of the
lucky few who were able to squeeze
into Arbor Vitae last weekend,
then you too understand how diffi-
cult it can be to translate the aural
response to Breathe Owl Breathe's
music into language.
From the case adorned with
etchings to the album's little enve-
lope containing a page of lyrics and
loons to the 13 masterpieces on the
disc itself, Micah Middaugh, Andrea
Moreno-Beals and a whole lot of
friends have created an album that
feels kind of like swimming. "It just
makes me feel so happy right now,"
a cross-legged concertgoer said at
the Arbor Vitae loft last weekend.
While seeing the usual Breathe
Owl Breathe trio live (Middaugh,
Moreno-Beals and percussionist
Trevor Hobbs) evokes a more inti-
mate emotional response than lis-
tening to one of their albums does,
the added instrumentation on Cana-
dian Shield simply fleshes out the
sound while retaining the music's
personal nature. Although it isn't
a live album, it isn't unnaturally
flawless either. The album sounds
like real people with real voices on
real instruments in a calm, organic
approach that makes it even easier
to fall completely in love with their
sound.
Similar to their previous two
albums, Canadian Shield does its
fair share of traveling through the
natural landscape. With Middaugh
and Moreno-Beal's layered voices
singing of icicles, timber wolves
and tobogganing ghosts, and the
baritone uke fading into water
sounds and loon calls on the last
track, Breathe Owl Breathe takes
nature-rooted folk to a completely
new place. This lyrical playful-

Awww.
ness is poignantly contrasted by
the darkness of a broken family in
"Kids + Cats," the cocaine addiction
in "Landmark" and the playground
heartbreak in "Your Cape," thus
giving the album enough diversity
to surprise without straying too far
away from their folk-based core.
While Middaugh's lyrical poetry
carves out the frame for each song
on Canadian Shield, it is his and
Moreno-Beal'shandsandvoicesthat
fill them in with hues of stringed
instruments and harmonies. Their
compositional artistry is stunning-
ly illustrated in "Toboggan" with
Middaugh on banjo, Moreno-Beals
on both harp and cello and Daniel
Kahn on accordion. The result is a
piece painted with streaks of clas-
sical, outlined with folk pluckings
and highlighted by accordion bel-
lows. In addition to her vital cello
It doesn't matter
if words fail you.
The album won't.
contributions, Moreno-Beals's for-
merly meek alto takes on a strength
and richness once hiding as a sup-
porting harmony shell. But this
added vocal prominence doesn't
overpower Middaugh's charming
croons, it merely gives the album a
cohesiveness of sorts - a fullness
that reveals a balance between the
two minds that are Breathe Owl
Breathe.
Yes, it may seem strange to say
that music sounds like swimming,
but that's just it - if you don't
understand then you haven't heard
them. Breathe Owl Breathe isn't
your average acoustic folk duo, and
where music similes fail, swim-
ming, ice cream, snowy hillside and
Canadian loons fill in.

40

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