Bottomless Pit - Blood Under the Bridge (Comedy Minus One; 2010)

First post. Here we go.

I think I heard about Bottomless Pit on a music blog a couple of years back when they realeased their first record. What caught my interest was that it features members of two great bands from the 90's: Silkworm and Seam. Both put out some seriously great guitar-driven, rock records on Touch and Go and Matador.  Thanks to Napster (gasp!), I got into both of them in college and have since purchased (wha?) many of their CDs (double wha?). Unfortunately, Silkworm met a tragic end when their drummer was killed by a suicidal motorist in 2005. Thankfully, Bottomless Pit formed and the brilliance of these musicians continues in a new form.

So, yeah, this record has a kinda depressed vibe at times. But there is an important distinction between this and the whiny, "life's so cruel" music churned out by a lot of other bands. A maturity comes through in its delivery, tone, and lyrics. In the opener, "Winterwind," we're told that "waiting on deliverance is just like waiting on a tree you can't get out from under." That ain't emo. It sounds like something that guy's thought over and over again when the bed is spinning in the middle of the night. And now, after several drinks at the Black Cat, he's dropping some science on you just because you happen to be there. I don't know what it means, but I want to think about it. The record has a lot of these moments.

These songs aren't funeral dirges, either. The record has a pretty constant momentum and its songs build but never go over the top. The volume and density vary between quiet, slow-burning, relatively sparse meditations (“Rhinelander”, "Kiss Them All”) to driving, countrified rockers with thick chords and pounding drums (“Summerwind,” “Is It a Ditch”). Guitars bob and weave around each other but never get in the way; solos (check the end of “38 Souls”) and fills abound, adding and releasing tension. The band's precision and restraint keep it from ever sounding muddled even though there is a lot going on at times. The record seems to know exactly when I've had enough, tells me I'm wrong, proves it, and I'm all the happier for it. Below are the first and last songs on the record.  See if you agree.


Bottomless Pit - Winterwind

Bottomless Pit - 38 Souls