Slim Cessna’s Auto Club - Cipher (review)
Slim Cessna’s Auto Club - Cipher (Alternative Tentacles; Virus 383)
reviewed by Michael Macomber
Every Slim Cessna’s Auto Club album represents a new and haunting vision of the American landscape. This country as seen through the eyes of Slim is a strange place indeed. Revival meetings and mason jugs and bullfrogs and highways being hacked to ribbons are set against a constant and curious chant, the drumming voice of the ignored and the dispossessed.
Cipher takes this approach to new heights, with wonderful roadside attractions such as “This Land Is Our Land Redux” and “Magalina Hagalina Boom Boom.” The latter is cinematic beyond description, pulsing like blood in the veins of a man having a panic attack. Slim Cessna’s country roots blend with an Iggy and the Stooges influence, to create something truly unsettling — but captivating nonetheless. Like some unnamed object floating in a jar, the bizarre words are both disturbing and revelatory.
Tying Cipher together with a four-part series of tent meeting tunes (”An Introduction To The Power Of Braces”), the band takes its usual trip through the more bizarre corners of faith in America. “Everyone Is Guilty #2″ is a friendly, slide-guitar invite to Jesus, asking the savior to come out of hiding and start preaching again. “It would help our careers if we could warm up your show” is probably one of the most honest proposals ever made to the son of God. The song “Jesus Is My Body - My Body Has Let Me Down” is a good deal darker, sounding almost like a Black Sabbath tune.
“That Fierce Cow Is Common Sense In A Country Dress” is everything the title implies. The band goes into a mesmerized frenzy, spinning the melody higher and higher. “Red Pirate Of The Prairie” is all buzzing guitars and delightfully absurd lyrics. “Scac 101″ is a sad drinking song, rife with emotion. “All About The Bullfrog In Three Verses” is, well, all about the bullfrog — in three verses. The ribbit-ing beat of the backing vocals grabs hold and does not let go.
And neither does this album. Cipher is a dangerous musical drug, the kind that leads to an addiction for which there is no cure.
