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J Tillman - Year In The Kingdom
| Drownedinsound |
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For 18 months or so, it has been compulsory when writing about J. Tillman’s solo work to make reference to the fact that he happens to be the drummer in Fleet Foxes. So let’s slay that particular elephant in the room straight away, shall we? The fact of the matter is that Year in the Kingdom is his sixth album in five years, which strongly suggests that, vastly contrasting commercial fortunes aside, his day job consists of his solo recordings, and Fleet Foxes is a mere side project. The sort of down-at-heel folk baladeering which Tillman specialises in is a popular market to say the least, teeming with over-earnest chancers trying desperately to convince us of their authenticity. However, authenticity is something weaved so intricately into the fabric of Tillman’s compositions that he doesn’t even have to try. And perhaps that’s the secret to success. Year in the Kingdom continues where Vacillando Territory Blues left off earlier this year, adorned with little more than Tillman’s weatherbeaten voice and sparse guitar work. In spite of its elemental make-up, the album rarely descends into the realms of the forgettable or samey. For the majority of its duration, it maintains a tight grip of your senses. One of Tillman’s greatest strengths is his ability to use his ingredients sparingly. This includes his use of time - the record is short enough at thirty-four minutes not to crush you under its weariness....full text |
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| Popmatters |
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Yes, Josh Tillman is the drummer for Fleet Foxes. Have we gotten that out of the way? Good. Because he has been putting out his own quiet records at a pretty good clip for a while now, and they’re not only great, but they’re the stark shadow to the honeyed light his “other” band puts out. And his sixth such record, Year in the Kingdom, may be his most stark collection yet. More so than any of his other records—including last year’s excellent Vacilando Territory Blues—there is a feeling of isolation here. But that isolation isn’t nearly as depressive as this hushed sound might initially imply. That titular year feels like Tillman spent it at some huge reunion—of friends, family, lovers old and new—maybe out in a cabin in the mountains somewhere. And while they all hashed everything out, he holed up in the room upstairs, figuring things out for himself the only way he knows how. It’s an album of admission, acceptance, and moving on. But there’s also a feeling that Tillman knows not just what he’s moving on from, but where he’s going to. When he sings that title line, “I spent a year in the kingdom”, he feels genuinely grateful for having gone though, well, what seems like a lot. Lyrically, these songs rarely come right out and say things, instead creating a shadowy landscape upon which Tillman lays honest emotions. The dulcimer hammers over guitar on “Crosswinds”, like little breaks in the clouds. And Tillman layers backing vocals into a haunting fog, but he sets it up only to break it. “We’ll find each other where we promised”, he assures someone. And we never know quite where that place is, whether or not it’s outside of that kingdom he was singing about just a song before. But there’s relief in his papery voice. Even as he’s uncertain this meeting will happen, he holds tight to his hope and presses on....full text |
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| Pitchfork. |
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J. Tillman's got one a hell of a voice, of course: The newest Fleet Foxes member wasn't just plopped down behind the drumkit post-Sun Giant 'cuz he gives good beard. It merits mention that Tillman's been crafting hushed folk yearners for years, and that Year in the Kingdom is Tillman's second LP of 2009. And it's right around here that we can stop bringing up those other dudes; whereas Foxes trade in the precise and the pristine, Tillman's songs drift along like a piece of ragged wood in the river, a little gnarled but easygoing nevertheless. He's also dealing in a much more contemporary style of folk, kinda, taking plenty of cues from Mark Kozelek's placidly expansive work with Sun Kil Moon and even more recently Bon Iver's ambient whirl. Tillman's records-- and there's no shortage-- are quiet, pensive, unassuming things, Sunday morning kick-around music. And, while the loose, oft-airy tunes can occasionally feel inexact, when cloaked in that voice and a few inspired rattletrap arrangements, you'll barely register the deficit. Year in the Kingdom kicks off with its tidy title track, a strummy, stripped-way-back affair with nothing more than Tillman and his guitar. It's a pleasant enough intro, but I'd have gone with the significantly more adorned "Crosswinds" to kick things off. Tarting Tillman's tune up is a touch of banjo and a few woos while the whistling of the wind teases out the nooks and crannies of its central melody; the effect is not unlike Jim O'Rourke's crackling but never overdone production on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, with a relatively straightaway song taking on new dimension with the addition of a few key elements. Tillman's long been good at coloring in his compositions on wax; his partiality to slow and steady song structure and his avoidance of most vocals besides his own does leave plenty of room to screw around, but there's an incidental feel to the extraneous noise here, in service of the song rather than some kind of cloak....full text |
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