Album Notes

Devil in the Woods, Issue 3.3, 2001 5 Stars. After far too long in hiding, former Alcohol Funnycar frontman Ben London returns with a devastatingly world-weary collection of songs. The guitars have been turned down from London's previous work, yet this effort still boils over with fervor. "Too Loud for the Snowman" is a painfully detailed account of how it feels to have life collapse on you. London's exceptional eye for how people lose their direction provides comfort for the wasted days, and the morning after. -- Adam Lauridesn Alternative Press, January, 2002 Former Alcohol Funnycar leader fills a Flaming Lips-sized void Somewhere in Oklahoma, Wayne Coyne and the boys are suiting up for the next Flaming Lips flight out - penning Americana and then brainstorming how to make the ditties positively cosmic. For those who can't wait to experience the follow-up to the Soft Bulletin, former Alcohol Funnycar driver Ben London debuts Sanford Arms. Ironically enough it's Too Late for the Snowman's conventionality that makes it a compelling listen. Beneath the pocket symphonies, the underwater guitars and the ambient noise that hangs over the songs like a rain cloud, the nuanced instrument panning and ghostly harmony melodies make for fine alt-country. London makes you feel good about feeling down. The images are fresh -- "cigarettes shine like stars" ("Science & Industry") and "I've been laying here like a yearbook on a shelf pulled out from time to time so that you laugh at yourself" ("Mercury") -- and the chord changes are as dependably surprising as the four seasons. -- Lorne Behrman No Depression, September-October, 2001 "Just a song at twilight before I go," Sanford Arms' Ben London sings on "Mercury." The midtempo song builds to its chorus as if running uphill, telling of the end of summer and a romance. London's voice strains at the dissolution and entropy of something that had seemed certain and real only a few months before but, like the weather, has chilled. Departures and reversals fill the lyrics on Too Loud for the Snowman. The cosmic cowboy that moves in waltz time on Sanford Arms' debut isn't so much a distant relative of Jimmie Dale Gilmore as a drinking buddy of Joe Pernice. Former Alcohol Funnycar leader London possesses a downy voice and a wounded delivery that convey early-morning reckonings and late-night comforts. The dozen songs are lushly crafted with idiosyncratic touches, playing as a remorse-laden song cycle with a clear-eyed observance that keeps the emotions in check. The lolling cadence and ghostly arrangements are built on Harris Thurmond's lonesome guitar, Jeff Wood's melodic bass, and Rob Dent's loopy drums. Rob Witmer's keys and accordion float through the soundscape, swelling to oceanic proportions and then ebbing back behind London's voice. Producer Tucker Martine (Modest Mouse, Bill Frisell) creates a simpatico environment for the compositions with just the right balance of space and compression to let them breathe while keeping them grounded. That's the perfect twilight for Sanford Arms to hitch hook-laden pop melodies to folk-country cadences. -- NATE LIPPENS Uncut, February, 2002 4 Stars - Outstanding debut from Seattle quartet. The name's only a consonant or two removed from that of the Uncut local, but you're hardly likely to find Sanford Arms playing the seedy bars of downtown Southwark. The four-piece are led by former Alcohol Funnycar frontman Ben London, whose songs pitch their tent somewhere in the middle of the territory staked out by Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, Sparklehorse, and Joe Pernice. Trailing clouds of wistful glory, the album ebbs and flows on a sea of lazy cadences and ethereal arrangements. Your favorite track will change every time you hear it, so best to take alt.country fanzine No Depression's advice and treat it as one long, indivisible song cycle. A gorgeous record. -- NIGEL WILLIAMSON The Stranger, August 30-Sept 5, 2001