Brightblack Morning Light Issue #37

Motion to Rejoin (Matador)

By John S.W. MacDonald
Published: September 1st, 2008 | 11:52pm

Rachael Hughes and Nathan Shineywater — known together as Brightblack Morning Light — are hippies in every sense of the word: They recorded their third LP, Motion to Rejoin, in their New Mexico adobe home using only solar power; Shineywater sung most of the tunes with an Indian arrowhead stuck in his mouth; and they dedicated their 2006 self-titled album to “all who resist Babylon system.”

Yet the duo sounds nothing like hippies. There are no trebly guitar solos, virtuoso mandolin excursions, or sweaty drum circles. There’s absolutely nothing folky or jam-bandy about them. If there is, it’s buried under a mass of sultry psychedelic soul — a narcotic haze of Rhoades and wah-wah guitar. Their music has more in common with Miles Davis and Spiritualized than Phish or Bela Fleck.

While a great deal has stayed the same for Brightblack since their phenomenal 2006 effort — the indecipherable vocals, the fever-dream song titles (“Hologram Buffalo,” “A Rainbow Aims,” etc.), the ubiquitous reverb, and snail’s-pace tempos — Motion has a lighter, airier touch than its predecessor. With its vampy trumpet riff and cooing gospel singers, “Gathered Years” lifts you five feet off the pavement as Shineywater dreamily intones, “rise up in the morning with the light.”

Unfortunately, by the album’s second half, Brightblack has retreated almost entirely into ambiance, leaving you stranded high in the clouds. “Summer Hoof” features little more than a lone trumpet bleating over twinkling Rhoades, as does the embarrassingly titled “When Beads Spell Power Leaf.” While Brightblack remain masters at musical mise-en-scene — their images of smoke-filled mesas and peyote starlight framed with an almost frightening intensity — Motion suffers when the low-end drops out, when the songs loose their groove and shape. It’s proof that even hippies need a little discipline sometimes.

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