Arbouretum
The Gathering

The soft notes of "Rites of uncovering" are still there, unfolding nightmarish dreams through rituals of which ghosts are the absolute protagonists. From these came "Song of the pearl", more balanced and less "wandering" than the previous one.

For these reasons, fans of the band were eagerly awaiting the latest work of Arbouretum. Meanwhile, they continued to dream with the first two creations of the stars-and-stripes combo. Then, once again in an odd year, Arbouretum returned to let us listen to their musical creed, varying it once again compared to the past.

The main changes in the sound can be attributed to Dave Heumann, guitarist and singer, but above all the main mind of the band. His faithful supports are bassist Corey Allender, keyboardist Matthew Pierce and behind the drums Brian Carey. They are the ones who gave shape and body to "The gathering", the third work of Arbouretum, released in February of this 2011.

Compared to "Rites of uncovering" and "Song of the pearl", the skeleton of the new album is decidedly more metallic and less psychedelic, although here and there the psych impulses of the past can still be traced. Never before has Heumann’s six strings burst so prominently, contrasting the heaviness of the parts with his nostalgic and decadent way of interpreting the vocals. The beginning of "The white bird" immediately shows us the "new" Arbouretum: an unusually aggressive guitar sweeps everything away before Heumann's vocal cords partly restore the calm. The track flows governed by the guitar, which continues throughout the piece to carve out with its metallic wanderings everything that the band's fans had learned to know about them. The same goes for "When delivery comes", perhaps only a little softened in guitar saturation. A track that shows us the thematic path of Arbouretum: once again tied to the past, but with a modernity that dilutes the scenarios of the American suburbs evoked in the first two albums.

Reverberations of the past follow one another in marathons that taste like the seventies, of the most underground southern rock, not disdaining references to the doom and stoner rock more substantial. However, all this is swept away by the unparalleled lightness of the wonderful "The highwayman", a cover of Jimmy Webb. In Arbouretum's vision, it even manages to surpass the original, thanks to a simple but profoundly touching and unique touch. One of the most beautiful things heard recently. And so the mind wanders...

The conclusion of the trip into the new style of Arbouretum is "Song of the Nile", a gigantic ride through the American desert. The six strings build pyramids of rock upon rock, and nothing seems able to scratch them. A black and impenetrable monolith, which closes The gathering, but probably also closes this segment of their career. Heumann is a musician who experiments, blending old and new, and I am sure that in the near future there will be few points of contact with this album.

"I fly a starship across the universe divide
and when I reach the other side
I'll find a place to rest my spirit if I can..."

1. "The White Bird" (7:09)
2. "When Delivery Comes" (4:22)
3. "Destroying To Save" (5:07)
4. "The Highwayman" (4:13)
5. "Waxing Crescents" (7:48)
6. "The Empty Shell" (4:33)
7. "Song Of The Nile" (10:37)