Judson Claiborne - Time and Temperature

Judson Claiborne
Time and Temperature
(La Société Expéditionnaire)
Rating: 3.3 of 5


When the transitions between seasons may leave you spiritless, sometimes there is solace in solitude. Chris Salveter aka Judson Claiborne understands this better than many. With his former slowcore band Low Skies on hiatus, Chris spent a lazy nine months spanning from summer of ’08 to early ‘09 writing and recording a second solo album—this time to be released on La Société Expéditionnaire.

Sauntering along in indie folk song format, Time and Temperature tosses in elements of bareboned neo-Baroque, alt-country, and Appalachian music. Through the vocal evocation of a weathered Jason Collett, Salveter spins yarns about waiting and wandering in pining romanticism.

In front of straggling guitar lines, Salveter sings ‘Baby, you can tell the songs so well to a stranger you don’t mind / where they’re from or what they’ve done or when there’s anger in their eyes’ on the simple and reflective “A Song for Dreaming”. The pronounced “Oh Cyril” comes next in sequence; following each sparse verse with a clement horn-sweeping chorus. “My How We Change!” and closer “Moonraker” are other ragged standouts.

What Judson Claiborne does with negative space is a marvelous achievement. Allowing the songs to promenade at their own intended speed lends the record a discreet maturity. ‘When the twilight spirit comes around, I’ll be somewhere nearing with my head to the ground’, he sings on the opening track. Salveter certainly understands the virtue that is patience.

As the cheerless inertia of the winter season slowly ferments into the halcyon swell of spring, Time and Temperature will accompany you in the gap.

Twilight Spirit - Judson Claiborne

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Strand of Oaks - Leave Ruin

Strand of Oaks
Leave Ruin
(La Société Expéditionnaire)
Rating: 4.4 of 5


La Société Expéditionnaire just continues to take great chances, and as a result, we’ve all been rewarded with some beautiful, contemplative avant folk records. The label, established in 2006 by Lewis & Clarke’s Lou Rogai, offers a few more titles each and every year—including this bonny debut from Timothy Showalter aka Strand of Oaks.

Salvaging what he could from a fire that took his house and all his possessions; Showalter borrowed a guitar and traipsed the city streets of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, writing plaintive songs of self-vindication and mourning from hotel rooms and park benches. A failed relationship behind him, along with everything else, Showalter composed himself and released the Pyrrhic victory Leave Ruin. What we have here are the doleful expressions and candid retellings of a man who enduringly suffered; having lost so many things in his world, both tangible and intangible.

Heart-stricken and carnal confessions, such as “New Paris” or “Sister Evangeline”, capture the sense of torment Showalter has undergone, punctuated by vulnerable guitars and subtle piano touches. “Two Kids” is a short revealing tale of humble petition—performed on a lone guitar apposed by banjo. A gentle Hammond organ keeps “Mourning Worker” nice and calm amid twangy electric guitar phrasings. “End In Flames” and the record-titled last selection, two of the tenderer ballads volunteered for the album, stand tall as bookends on both sides.

Intimately effusive at times, but all the while serving to convey the palpable emotion, Leave Ruin remains irrefutably genuine—a stirring exorcism from the deepest chambers of the heart.

End In Flames - Strand of Oaks

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