There is a maturity and confidence to these compositions whose influences are absorbed with the easy delight of someone in perpetual love with music. There is also absolute precision in their production – dynamic shifts, as subtle as they may be, are deliberate and controlled; but this meticulousness is balanced by a sense of instinctive grace – where each added instrumental flourish or ambient texture matters within its broader visions. It’s really very good indeed.
This is the work of both a fastidious master-craftsman and an entirely natural songwriter – whose long digestion of folk and pop tropes are poured out with elegance across this delightful album’s twenty eight minutes. Andrew Pelletier is the Fur Trader in question and this is another careful addition to his already growing collection of home-crafted music. The fact that the chosen name for this musical project is reflective of his own family history feels apt – as this is rich in musical historical knowledge and reference points. The past matters here – but so too does the here and now. This is alive to the possibilities of today.
The ever-green influence of McCartney is evident at times in these songs’ gentle melodious ease, not to mention the controlled and subtly complex compositional choices – a fondness for occasional dalliances with orchestrated noise is another sonic signpost to the Beatles’ doorstep. And of course there are echoes of more recent voices- Elliott Smith and his own McCartneyisms are in the sonic pot perhaps- but Pelletier wraps this all up in his own idiosyncrasies and sense of time, place and purpose. It’s impossible not to be drawn in and joyfully consumed by it all.
Those 60s folk influences come to the fore on the second track – where cleanly picked acoustic guitars interplay seamlessly – its beautiful melody entwining and mesmeric. This taps once more into our memories- reaching into a nostalgia-embracing past with each note. There’s a childlike, open-hearted quality here that converses with the measured purity of the musicianship. This creates a curious friction – that keeps these songs fizzing with life.
The emotive intimacies of Bedouin also tug at the melodic threads of early Sufjan Stevens – supplemented further by that yearning, heartfelt vocal. Again, production details are key here – enriching everything with their poise and conviction. This interlocution between warm 60s nostalgia and something more baroque and artful also reminds me of contemporary home-recording experimenter, Iain Mann – an equally obsessive multi-instrumentalist who seeks to tap into music’s ever present dialogue with memory – and another exceptionally skilled craftsman and composer, who knows how best to shape a song. And rest assured, the songs of Fur Trader show a true sonic artisan at work.
Though masterminded by an individual – Whose Dream Is This sees Pelletier also reach out for collaboration; and these contributions work beautifully- from the glorious pedal steel guitar of Max Subar to the trombone of Chris Shuttlewort; Taylor Joshua Rankin also needs particular mention here, with horn and string arrangements masterfully undertaken on a number of tracks. Again these additional details are perfectly placed to enhance not distract. This is complex but never busy music- there is always space left to let these songs breathe. The distorted keys on Merchant at the Colossus of Rhodes- pitch warbling like a tape distorted home video – are further memory nagging and beautiful- the sort of detail I can’t help but fall in love with.
Final track, On a Spit, is an aptly stunning conclusion- those more experimental leanings reaching further into the baroque with its fracturing orchestral arrangements, the apposite contributions of Beau Sorenson enriching the complex palette offered (the bass in particular is an understated delight here). The Bandcamp tags relating to this work make frequent reference to lo-fi (lo-fi Americana, lo-fi indie, lo-fi indie folk, lo-fi indie rock…). This, to my ears at least, is not low fidelity music – far from it in fact. This is refined, elegant, masterful and erudite- this is properly grown-up songwriting captured with absolute clarity. Its fidelity is clear.
Andrew Pelletier knows what he’s doing. If you’ve any sense, you’ll join him on each and every one of his sonic adventures. Whose Dream Is This is a perfect place to begin.
Written by M.A Welsh (Misophone)
Music | Misophone (bandcamp.com)
