The world of experimental bedroom pop is vast, a world that consists of ethereal projects like Milwaukee’s Cairns and earthy, whimsical meanderings of Half-Handed Cloud alike. Pittsburgh’s vireo is some strange red-headed step child of chamber pop, math rock, and folk – recorded in a number of locations, not excluding an apartment with “paper-thin walls” and featuring a plethora of field recordings. Needless to say, there’s plenty of the same quirkiness, philosophical bent, and total disregard for song structure strewn throughout that you’d expect after seeing the album cover.
moss longing is, simply put, pretty weird. “Experimental” is a token term for most artists, but vireo pushes a bit past the bounds of outsider music (sans microtonality or anything too abstract). Fans of Adjy, Anathallo, or String Machine (of which vireo’s mastermind Chris Beaulieu also plays bass). One Bandcamp tag labels the record as eco-folk, a term that seems as pretentious as it feels entirely appropriate. Despite the odd collage of sounds, the sound still feels organic. Percussion, samples, and field recordings transport listeners to the woods with ease. It’s the sort of thing that makes you wonder, “How did any of this happen in an apartment?”
“Dance of the Travelling Screams” features all of about 8 lines of lyrics, sandwiched into layers of trilled screams and “wubba wubba” vocal samples. Underneath it all, there’s a piano groove that could be straight out of the Zelda series. It’s catchy. It’s chaotic. But if Beaulieu can succeed with so little in terms of traditional musical elements here, tracks like “Greedy Beak” are only that much more compelling.
Percussion is definitely a highlight to the album – in some ways, it’s THE primary instrument. Production, then, might be considered the secondary key instrument as it’s the combination of everything that really seals the deal. And as earthy and DIY as this record might be, it never sounds flimsy or cheap.
Even so, between screams, dog barks, crickets, and wub-wub-wubs, there are tender guitar parts, ghostly vocals, and genuine sensitivity. It’s a sort of impressionist painting where there’s just enough familiarity but the insides of common shapes holds substance of not-quite-real caliber.
“Wist/Mist” feels reminiscent of Jacob Collier’s “In My Room” – the general pacing, layering, and bassy percussion are very familiar. Even so, that’s not a comparison I’ve ever been able to make before. There’s something rare going on here.
“Prize Fish” is perhaps the most standard song of the bunch, not far from many common pop-folk staples. There’s still plenty of traditional percussion and samples of flowing water to keep things from ever feeling too commercial. The lyrics are about chasing some sort of specific fish, which admittedly is somewhat nonsensical. But admittedly, much of the album’s text is fairly esoteric and indecipherable. It comes with the territory.
The energy cranks up a bit on the title track as the song weaves between twangy, spooky guitar bits and high-octane percussive romps. Once again, you’ll feel like you’re in Hyrule – probably the Kokiri Forest, specifically. It’s something about the percussive shakers.
The songs do seem to become increasingly-concrete as the album moves forward, with more of the stranger moments being toward the front. And there are several shorter tracks mixed in that act as experimental segues that tend to serve as extended intros to other tracks. Given how many other tracks contort wildly, it seems like an odd choice to have these as standalone tracks, though it does help break up the track list a bit on this 50-minute monster.
moss longing is not for everyone. It’s beautiful, ambitious, crazy, and enchanting. But it’s not always easy to digest. Some listeners might be turned away after the first few tracks before reaching the more accessible second act. Others will be hooked by the oddity only to be put off by some of the more traditional songs later on. There’s just… a lot going on. And it’s all done carefully and intentionally, but that doesn’t change the fact that there’s certainly a niche audience for this sort of “high-art” approach to music. Even so, there are a mix of strong songs scattered about for those willing to endure. I still have no idea what the album is about, but it’s definitely a refreshing take on modern folk.
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