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KaiserCartel

March Forth (Bluhammock)

By Emily Becker
Published: June 12th, 2008 | 4:12pm

Though each has performed separately in the past, Brooklyn residents Courtney Kaiser and Benjamin Cartel unite as KaiserCartel to release March Forth, the duo’s first full-length. March Forth follows a self-released EP, cleverly titled Double Standard (2007). Reminiscent of Ida’s Elizabeth Mitchell and Daniel Littleton, Kaiser and Cartel join their work with their personal lives, weaving poignant harmonies throughout gentle, folk-inspired melodies.

March Forth leads off with “Oh No,” a guitar-and-drum-based love song that digs deep with lush male-female harmonies and touches of glockenspiel — it’s also the best song on the record. “Season Song” is a touch didactic, and would do well on Yo Gabba Gabba or Jack’s Big Music Show with its upbeat whistling and sentimental lyrics, “These are the things we see each year/ That show we’ve grown/ It’s time to cheer/ Seasons of the year.” This child-friendly vibe continues on “Favorite Song,” and perhaps it’s only logical since KaiserCartel fills the stage with stuffed animals — “The Crayons” — before each show, and both members have had child-centric careers: Kaiser as an elementary music teacher, and Cartel as a teacher of early art education.

The songs that feature Cartel’s voice, which is far weaker than Kaiser’s, suffer under his direction (“Travelling Feet,” “Shira”). Cartel also takes the lead on “The Flood,” but the song succeeds thanks to a violin line and brushy snare drum. Tracks like “The Good Ones,” “The Same,” and “Blue Sky,” on which Kaiser sings lead, recall the depth of emotion of the Cowboy Junkies’ Margo Timmons on The Trinity Sessions.

Overall, March Forth is melodic and well executed throughout. Kaiser and Cartel smartly employ small details like glockenspiel, strings, and handclaps to save the music from indulging its own loveliness. Indeed, the album might be improved upon if it were more consistently, well, adult. Fortunately, March Forth exits on a strong note, "Free Will Zone": the album’s final track (save for the secret “Shira,” which is hidden at 6:30). KaiserCartel’s sound matures with the addition of a maudlin cello line as Kaiser takes the lead on this song. Cheers to this approach — here’s to hoping that Kaiser and Cartel aim in this direction on their next record.

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