{"id":23735,"date":"2022-09-19T05:30:05","date_gmt":"2022-09-19T09:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=23735"},"modified":"2022-09-16T11:12:28","modified_gmt":"2022-09-16T15:12:28","slug":"album-review-eric-slick-palisades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2022\/09\/19\/album-review-eric-slick-palisades\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Eric Slick – Palisades"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"A former student (alongside his sister Julie Slick<\/a>) at the Paul Green School of Rock Music, Eric Slick was catapulted to well-deserved fame when Adrian Belew chose him and Julie to work as his rhythm section in the Adrian Belew Power Trio in the mid- to late 2000s. From there, Eric joined Dr. Dog as the band\u2019s drummer, a position he (apparently) continues to hold (I had thought they had gone inactive).<\/p>\n

But percussion is merely one of Slick\u2019s areas of expertise, as evidenced by a solo career. Slick has released five collections of music to date including a set of demos and an EP. His second official release is 2017\u2019s Palisades<\/i>. Now in 2022, the record is getting a vinyl reissue.<\/p>\n

In addition to writing all eight of the songs on Palisades<\/i>, Slick plays guitar, synthesizers and (of course) percussion. Still, it\u2019s not a one-man affair; a number of guest musicians help out in various ways (additional vocals and instrumentation etc.).<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a clattering, DIY aesthetic at the heart of the album. \u201cYou Became the Light\u201d has a lo-fi vibe that\u2019s just right for the clattering, nervy arrangement of the song. Slick demonstrates a sold understanding of pop music conventions, as the song\u2019s bridge \u2013 full of soaring Mellotrons \u2013 makes clear. The tension between the song\u2019s ambitions and its modest sonic trappings gives it additional character.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Dirge\u201d is more conventional but no less interesting. Slick creates a dense, mystical atmosphere for the song, imbuing the tune with a vaguely psychedelic-revival feel (think: late \u201890s Flaming Lips without the major label budget). \u201cNo\u201d is a slinky tune with more pop sensibility and a boxy \u201880s-demo feel. \u201cSlow Burn\u201d is gauzy shoegaze with a sinister vibe.<\/p>\n

The title track folds all of those textures \u2013 the psychedelia, the shoegaziness, the demo vibe and such \u2013 into the blender, and the result is the strongest cut on the collection so far. But then comes \u201cYou Are not your Mind,\u201d a pop gem that sports higher production values, sharper songwriting and a more assured vocal performance. Had a major label released Palisades<\/i>, I strongly suspect that \u201cYou Are Not Your Mind\u201d would have been the (take your pick) opening track \/ single \/ spotlight number.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor \u201cEvergreen,\u201d Slick recedes back into the sonic murk, but it\u2019s a lovely sort of murk, with evocative keyboards, dissonant chording and doomy early King Crimson-style cymbal crashes. And the LP closes with \u201cInto the Void,\u201d a track that \u2013 \u201clike \u201cPalisades\u201d \u2013 leverages all of Eric Slick\u2019s compositional, arrangement and instrumental strengths into a winning tune.<\/p>\n

On the occasion of its reissue, Palisades<\/i> underscores the impressive talent and vision of an artist whoo continues to earn accolades today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former student (alongside his sister Julie Slick) at the Paul Green School of Rock Music, Eric Slick was catapulted to well-deserved fame when Adrian Belew chose him and Julie […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23736,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,57,62,64,65,73],"tags":[4937,3580],"class_list":["post-23735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indie","category-psych","category-rawk","category-reissue","category-review","category-vinyl","tag-eric-slick","tag-org-music","cat-39-id","cat-57-id","cat-62-id","cat-64-id","cat-65-id","cat-73-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23735"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23737,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23735\/revisions\/23737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}