Album Reviews

Album Review: The Silt – Cat’s Peak (Fire Records)

By | Published on Monday 12 January 2009

The Silt

With trippy pedal effects, a bucket full of wind instruments and lyrics about twilight, mountains and woodland animals, Toronto-based lo-fi avant-folkers The Silt have the perfect recipe for a brilliant and beautiful alt-country/freak folk debut album. Boasting their ability to musically multitask (they’ve got one poor guy playing the bass and drums at the same time – eat that, Dick Van Dyke!), the band are seemingly favourable toward a more experimental disposition, which is clearly reflected in their sound. Slightly despondent but nonetheless a dazzling listen after a few plays, ‘Cat’s Peak’ slots into a place between the jarring sincerity of The Mountain Goats and the tuneful, nostalgic psychedelia of fellow folk-rockers Midlake. ‘No Twig’ is an excellent alt-country song showcasing truly impressive harmonies, and ‘Feathershine’ is incredibly Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy: gentle and complex, with weightless, feather-light vocals that are nothing if not heartfelt. Deemed as the brainchild of frontman Ryan Driver – who is also working on a solo album that will be released early 2009 – one has to wonder if The Silt will rise above the many alt-folk bands that have emerged over the past couple of years. However, with a strong debut behind their backs and a tour coming up at the end of the year, the Canadian threesome are on sure-footing to win a piece of every folk fan’s heart. TW

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