The Language of Termites

The appropriately titled In a Different Time and Place is the result of a collaboration of bandmembers across three years and disparate geographical locations, including recordings done in Romania and Egypt. But there is nothing disjointed about the results. The combination of acoustic and electric instrumentation gives the album a...

By Tom Murphy

August 20, 2009

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The appropriately titled In a Different Time and Place is the result of a collaboration of bandmembers across three years and disparate geographical locations, including recordings done in Romania and Egypt. But there is nothing disjointed about the results. The combination of acoustic and electric instrumentation gives the album a deeply atmospheric and finely textured sound that highlights expressive songwriting. Emily Frembgen's girlish, resonant vocals bring warmth to the songs while also haunting the outer edges of the psych-folky "This Is an Ocean." The standout track here is "What It Means," which offers resigned yet pointed lyrics and a guitar shimmer found not in effects, but in the rhythms and the collage of melodies, while "Raining Fireworks," wrapped in subtle space-rock guitar gossamer, closes the album on a high point.

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Tom Murphy is a writer, visual artist and musician from Aurora, Colorado. He was a prolific music writer for Westword and a documenter of the Denver music scene.

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Twitter: @simianthinker