Cathedral (Castanets album)
Cathedral is an album by Castanets, released on October 19, 2004 through Asthmatic Kitty.[1][5] Part of the album was recorded live and includes a dozen local musicians. Led by Raymond Raposa, this is the band's first foray into studio recording, which he described as 'a really protracted, uncomfortable process'.[6] The release features guest-vocals by Brigit DeCook and Liz Janes.[3] The material was partly recorded in a remote cabin in Northern California.[1] Raposa had planned to publish a novel to accompany the album, which failed to surface.[6]
| Cathedral | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 19, 2004[1] | |||
| Genre | Psychedelic folk | |||
| Length | 33:26 | |||
| Label | Asthmatic Kitty | |||
| Castanets chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [2] |
| Pitchfork Media | (8.5/10) [3] |
| Popmatters | Favorable [4] |
Critical acclaim
Amanda Petrusich of Pitchfork.com compared Raposa's writing on Cathedral to that of the poet Seamus Heaney. She described the album as a collection of 'deep gothic ballads' of 'country music [that] should sound like death, and more specifically, death-by-murky-submersion'.[3] Heather Phares of allmusic.com referred to the religious overtones of the album, describing it as 'spiritual searching' and as having 'a certain dark theatricality'.[2] Justin Cober-Lake at popmatters.com described Cathedral as having 'lo-fi production [which] helps develop the darkness of Castanets’ music. [It] sounds as if it was recorded in the desert at night, which suits the pre-technology fears of the album'.[4] Jon Pit from Dusted Magazine called it 'another welcome installment in the folk renaissance' although he described Raposa's vocals as 'lacklustre'.[7] In December 2004, American webzine Somewhere Cold ranked Cathedral No. 8 on their 2004 Somewhere Cold Awards Hall of Fame list.[8]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Raymond Raposa
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Cathedral 2 (Your Feet On The Floor Sounding Like The Rain)" | 3:13 |
| 2. | "Just To Break Free From A Hundred Families" | 0:34 |
| 3. | "Industry And Snow" | 1:44 |
| 4. | "You Are The Blood" | 4:09 |
| 5. | "No Light To Be Found (Fare Thee Faith, The Path Is Yours)" | 6:30 |
| 6. | "Three Days, Four Nights" | 4:51 |
| 7. | "As You Do" | 2:54 |
| 8. | "Cathedral 3 (Make Us New)" | 0:31 |
| 9. | "The Smallest Bones" | 2:47 |
| 10. | "We Are The Wreckage" | 3:56 |
| 11. | "Cathedral 4 (The Unbreaking Branch And Song)" | 2:23 |
Personnel
The album lists individuals as performers and cryptic descriptions of their parts,[5] these include:
- Mia Ferm
- Nathan Hubbard
- Nicholas Delffs
- Nathan Delffs
- Nicholas Hennies
- Connor Kirkwood
- Daniel Bryant
- Pall Jenkins
- Christopher Cory
- Gabriel Sundy
- Josh Quon
- Sean Jerd
- Raymond Raposa
- Brigit DeCook
- Elizabeth Janes
- Rafter Roberts
References
- "Cathedral, by Castanets". bandcamp.com. Retrieved 2015-08-08.
- Phares, Heather. "Cathedral - Castanets". allmusic.com. All Media Inc. Retrieved 2015-08-08.
- Petrusich, Amanda (August 31, 2004). "Castanets: Cathedral". pitchfork.com. Pitchfork Media Inc.
- Cober-Lake, Justin (October 18, 2004). "Castanets: Cathedral". popmatters.com. Popmatters Media Inc.
- Listing of the Castanets album Cathedral on Discogs.com, (accessed August 7, 2015).
- Petrusich, Amanda (January 12, 2015). "Interview:Castanets". pitchfork.com. Pitchfork Media Inc.
- Pitt, Jon (October 15, 2004). "Dusted Reviews: Castanets - Cathedral". dustedmagazine.com. Dusted Magazine. Retrieved 2015-08-08.
- Lamoreaux, Jason T. (December 1, 2004). "Somewhere Cold Awards 2004". Somewhere Cold. Archived from the original on September 30, 2020. Retrieved September 30, 2020.