Tapestry - Raspberry Skeletons

Tapestry

Raspberry Skeletons
self-released; 2015

3.6 out of 5

By Jamie Robash

Tapestry a name that began as a temporary moniker for Long Island solo artist Casey Jacobs to record under ended up sticking. Jacobs is part of a collective of musician friends who release albums on their website with the intent being that everything they release is free for the public to download. It was this group of friends who encouraged Jacobs to begin recording and releasing his solo material under the Tapestry moniker.

Tapestry has since released three full-length albums. His third and most recent Raspberry Skeletons reminds me of the ghostly vibes given off by early Red House Painters. There is an immediate directness, which the album gives off, a sense of feeling comfortable while listening, which seems to come naturally unforced.

Raspberry Skeletons opens with “Every Grain the Same” - a slow and finger picked acoustic number that unfolds like a rolling fog. The vocals are haunting and the hollow ambient acoustic guitar and precisely sparse but severely direct drums syncopate in a rather delicious sounding way. The next track, “Cotton Candy” swoops in slowly, again with deft acoustics that owe a nod to an LSD era Beatles. Jacob’s adds a bit of reverb to his vocals, which give them a slightly watery quality and adds to the mystique of the songs. Though only twenty-five, he has learned enough to know when to accentuate certain vocal notes and when to fall back. On “New Cocoons” he displays this talent well, as well as knowing when to sing and when to let the silences fall as they may.

By the middle of Raspberry Skeletons Jacobs seems lost in the transient world he has created and it hinders things slightly as on the overly spacey “Back to the Basement.” He makes up for it however on the beautifully introspective “Why Can't I Find It?” where he laments “I’d let you wear my shoes and spill what you wanted to.”

For all his efforts Jacobs has made a solid though at times rather piecemeal album with Raspberry Skeleton, After subsequent listens these songs can come off sounding like the girl who goes home with anyone, which is to say they exist seemingly for their own pleasure.

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