Folk Implosion were a slight oddity. Like The Postal Service they were a side-project that eclipsed what they were supposed to be on the side of: in this case, Lou Barlow's main band Sebadoh.
The single 'Natural One' made them famous (via the Kids film soundtrack) despite being one of their weaker songs, but they blossomed creatively through their later work. 1997's 'Dare To Be Surprised', while patchy, contained some beautiful moments including the memorably melancholy 'Burning Paper' (listen here).
Natural One (1995)
'One Part Lullaby' (named from the Oscar Wilde quote "life is one part lullaby, two parts fear") is my personal favourite, both the album and it's stunning title track. It's an album full of indolent tales of trickling suburban dissatisfaction. This record embodies a very specific kind of pithy existential moment - listening to rumbling traffic, and staring at the wall - that desperately suits the air of boredom and blandness that pervades Lou Barlow's work.
There are several out-takes available online, such as the bombastic Synthriver, and there are lots of Lou Barlow songs available at his website loobiecore.com. The was a 2003 album, 'The New Folk Implosion', that I'm about to go and track down, but the band has been inactive since 2004 according to Wikipedia. Whether this means they're over is open to speculation, but let's hope not. What's a good website to petition Lou Barlow's face?
1 comment:
wouldn't bother with the new folk i mplosion, one of the worst albums I own, so bland and just basic guitar bass drums set up and no the other guy, I dunno why he tarnished the good folk implosion name.
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