Christopher G. Brown has worked in several different roles and mediums. Recently he has begun to step out on his own as a solo act and he is carving a new path for himself in Boston's local music scene which he already knows so well. His latest project is an album called Seven Months at Chimney Rock. Where Brown usually grounds his work in more synthetic roots, all tracks on this album come from a more bare bones arena. Everything started with vocals and acoustic guitar before adding electronic overlays and extra touches. I'm also intrigued by the non-musical influences which included movies like The Witch, The Hateful Eight and The Blair Witch Project. He's also heavily drawn to Agatha Christie's novel And Then There Were None. One of his goals with this novel influence is to illustrate the moods through the music, and in this aspect, Brown was very successful.
To me, Seven Months at Chimney Rock sounds like a very dank and dark indie rock album. Considering its influences it all makes a lot of sense. When I hear Chimney Rock, I think of the state park in North Carolina, I can't say if this is the place he is speaking of, but the music fit well with the visual I personally had. Chimney Rock is thick woods, gorgeous, but ominous and vast. The lush green can be overwhelming. It's a great place to get cut off from what we know as humans, especially a city rat like me living in Chicago. This is not a warm and fuzzy kind of indie album. It's dark and unnerving, kinda like the woods at night. The album started with a cool instrumental intro that started off rough and rocky and then simmered into a more traditional sounding indie riff. The core of what makes this album great are the organic acoustic guitar riffs. As we go through the songs, which are primarily slow builds, the riffs are the driving force. There's a charm to his guitar work that illustrates the wildness and unpredictability of nature. A lot of the songs features a pattern of building these riffs up and then they vanish only to be rebuilt from scratch. Again, I can sense the presence of nature in the work. The eerie factor often comes in the silence. He's very good at building tension, much like that of a good horror film. The creep factor comes out in the electronic elements with synth. I was intrigued by the vocals which are utilized more as another electric element, so it's held back, but I thought it was done very well. I enjoyed this romp through the dark, creepy woods with Brown. This is not a mass appeal album, but there are plenty of people in certain niches who I know would love it. There may have been moments where the music would hang in the air almost too long for me, but I think discomfort is part of the experience. I'm curious where Brown tends to go with his solo work, I would be interested hear it.
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