Thistle Street - two houses (split with salt meadow)
Thistle Street is a solo artist from San Diego, California. His LP, Two Houses, was made in collaboration with Salt Meadow; the result is extremely mellow and charming album. Blending ambience and space rock, the album majestically sits somewhere in between both worlds… with a firmament of its own.
The inclusion of strings and ambience gives Thistle Street’s first half of Two Houses the upper edge. In some instances, there’s very little to distinguish the songs from their influences (Irvine California Nineteen Ninety Four sounds like an early Carissa’s Wierd B-side), though there’s an undeniable charm running through Thistle Street’s first half. The strings on Culdesac Boy and Nothing Changes Sometimes are majestic, despite lacking their full dynamic range. While it’s inconsistent, the production adds a nice subtle flair to every song, with the exception of One Curtain Drawn – a song that would have benefited from better mixing, and resultingly could have fit perfectly on a Natural Snow Buildings LP.
Unfortunately, Salt Meadow’s half of Two Houses contains six songs that are completely indistinguishable from the band Duster (and furthermore each other). While it doesn’t hurt the flow and feel of the album, it sounds lacklustre and lazy compared to the efforts of Thistle Street. While it may certainly win fans of space-rock over; these fans deserve better. Thankfully, towards the end it does have its charming moments, such as the over-blown and genteel Atlantic o Atlantic.
Overall, Two Houses is a promising venture for Thistle Street and Salt Meadow, though it cannot help sounding flat overall, mostly due to its unspectacular second half. The mixing is hit and miss, though the lo-fi recording equipment adds a beautiful atmosphere throughout that is easy to get lost within. The LP would have been much better had they combined their styles, as opposed to separate them. While the composition may be lacking, I urge the band members to continue their venture – it may not be the strongest output, but the foundation is charming and welcoming.
Average
Listen to it here:
https://thistlestreet.bandcamp.com/album/two-houses-split-with-salt-meadow
Thistle Street - two houses (split with salt meadow)
