Phylactery Factory

The beautiful and uniquely-voiced Casey Dienel's White Hinterland released their beautiful and uniquely-voiced album yesterday. Uniquely titled as well. Phylactery Factory unearths the ancient Jewish term for sacred Hebrew verses held in two leather pouches on the body during prayers. A whole factory of them, in this case! I keep picturing an assembly line of sacred objects being built and furthered down the conveyor, finally emptying into an ever-growing pile at the end. Cheapens the whole thing doesn't it? Probably not the intent here, however. I'm guessing it alludes to the manufacturing of a collection of important keepsakes. Reminders of something important to you.

Anyway, naming origins aside, the album is very whole. It's cohesive and expansive, numerous songs topping 5 minutes and only one falling below 3:30 in length. It takes its time and flows where it wants to, around treetops and under creek bridges. The record's most rewarding and pretty songs are simply too long to host on this blog, for bandwidth purposes ("Hometown Hooray", "The Destruction of the Art Deco House").

1. West Coast Shows with two amazing acts: Bon Iver, Phosphorescent.
2. Yet another band to get a ton of gear stolen. Read about it here and donate easily w/ Paypal.

Listen:
Hung on a Thin Thread
Calliope
[from Phylactery Factory|buy]