The Donnybrook Writing Academy

Most Likely To: inspire bouts of frenzied creativity.

Blasts of Holy Birth is one of those rare albums that inspires you to create not exclusively out of inspiration or jealousy, but rather by a unique combination of the two. Anyone who involves themselves at any level and at any time in the creative process will understand that there are two parts of creation; the mechanical and the inspirational. Moreover, those same people (or perhaps just the intuitive among us) can listen to a piece of music and discern those two elements within it.

In the preceding paragraph, the word that probably stuck out the most was jealousy. Yes, jealousy is inescapable, simply because that unnameable thing which inspires Lewis & Clark through the course of Blasts of Holy Birth is of a truly uncommon purity, more so than I can hope to achieve in most of whatever creative efforts I am sure to put forth.

There is a new innocence after decades of worldliness that is probably most characteristic of the spirit behind the album, and that spirit is expertly captured in the mechanics. Each song swells and builds organically, marrying layer upon layer of texture and tone. Parts don’t just come in, they grow from older arrangements –you can pick out the banjo from the guitar, for example, but at times they just seem like different sounds made by the same instrument. Whether this is an achievement in post-production or mixing or just smart arrangement I don’t know for sure, but it is unquestionably an achievement, one that should be learned from.

The content of the album is another unexpected amalgamation–as lyrically simple as much of the album is, it becomes clear upon repeated listens that the lines that exist are efficient messengers of an infinitely more complex emotional pattern. As much feeling as there is, this is quite clearly a thinking man’s album by a thinking man’s band, but a thinking man who figures as much with his spirit as he does with his head.

Ultimately, Blasts of Holy Birth is a much bolder work than anything Lewis & Clarke have produced thus far. Blasts is a more unified vision than past works, and that vision has turned out to be breathtaking in every aspect. Intimacy is key–if an artist can establish intimacy between his or herself and the listener, then they have crossed the line between the listener consuming and the listener communing. Lou Rogai harbors a beautiful soul, and Blasts makes me look forward to future Lewis & Clarke releases as much for better knowing the man as I do for the music itself. Essential in every way.

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