RoughCuts
The Unseen Sound
© 2006 RoughCuts (634479270666)
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"At the banquet of life, each in turn is a guest and a dish.--Jean Henri Fabre 1823-1914,French Naturalist
..just remember that heavens right here..
From the sodden maritime and rolling grass hills of Beaverton,Oregon comes the CD "The Unseen Sound" by the humanist country rock pioneers, RoughCuts.
Centered on a sound of secularism the band delivers tunes that allows the listener to ponder life's happiness and possible meaning with distinction.
Comprised of 3 Oregon musicians , along with a few talented local guest players,including Kris Stuart,(Moonshine Hangover) and Marilee Hord (Cocks in the Henhouse) , RoughCuts truly is the sum of their equal parts.
Mark Shifflett takes the lead in vocals, song writing, and acoustic guitar. His wizened voice highlights a cross section of Johnny Cash and Voltaire. This is met with the musical brilliance of Nick Angelo(electric guitars) and Tim Murphy(bass,vocals) both of the group Featherstone.
Together, they engineered, mixed, and arranged the musical melodies and played instruments from banjoes to glockenspiels and dulcimers to synthesizers.
With the "unseen sound" brought to light, RoughCuts intends to continue to search for the truer sound..
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author: Robert Seitzinger, Esquire of the LineCountry music, folk rock and humanistic sound are adjectives that succinctly describe this Hillsboro, OR based band. The dulcet tones of deep acoustic guitars, suave bass lines and a whole host of complementary instruments provide a steady flow of ear-pleasing music throughout the album. The lyrical content is straightforward and honest, though never compensating for interpretive elasticity; what I derive from ‘Makers Mark Saturday’ will likely differ from your impressions. This open-ended style continues throughout the album, with the constant message that secularism is closely tied in with finding happiness. Most people hear secularism and immediately jump to the political connotation, or the idea behind the separation of religion and government. While the album takes a light-hearted jab or two (see ‘Dixieland’, verse 2), the group never seems to attack spirituality. Rather, the secularity of this band highlights the idea that while most of modern culture is swept up in setting and achieving astronomical goals as a means to happiness, we ought to remember that felicity is often much closer than we think. The lush congruity found between the lyrical and instrumental content took the group more than a year of collaboration and recording to achieve, and the labor shows. This album can easily be played from start to end without expressing a moment of sudden transition or abrupt confusion amidst a tune. The ebb and flow contribute to the good vibe of this release, though it abstains from falling into a lull, boring sound. I will be fair, however. This album certainly lives up the category of folk-country rock. The tempo of the album is a stark departure from the fast pace that most of today’s music employs. If you’re not able to tune your ear towards enjoying a mild sound, this album will not hold your attention long. Likewise, members of the intellectual-musical audience will find the lyrics predictable, even languid. That said, I rather enjoyed the tranquil progression of the album. It facilitates the process of taking in the lyrics and allowing them to mean what the listener wants. There is a profound beauty in the benign, serene mood of the album, one that seems to reflect the personalities of the band accurately. I can imagine that a small, private show held by this band at a local venue would be most intimate, really allowing for the audience to connect with the amiable nature of the group. Overall, the group has shown that they are able to prepare and present a banquet of well-spoken emotions, never taking itself too seriously though consistently broadcasting its oft-Epicurean modus. The songs allow the audience to comfortably ponder what their lives mean to them and always proffer the notion that living outside the normative standards of success and glory will be your best friend in realizing happiness.