Author: Hunter

I received the David Crowder Band’s latest release B Collision, or (…the Eschatology of Bluegrass) in the mail earlier this week, and man, has it been a treat to listen to. B Collision provides a stripped-down, acoustic treatment to some of the songs from DCB’s previous full length, A Collision, along with a few live cuts from their 2006 tour with Robbie Seay and Shane & Shane. David Crowder’s offerings have been strong in the past, often very creative while remaining catchy; he won’t be shoehorned into a hole. A Collision featured genres ranging from rock to folk to bluegrass, to, well, jsut plain weird (in a cool way). Following in the footsteps of this tradition, B Collision does not disappoint.

The track listing is as follows:

1.) Intro (I’ve Had Enough)
2.) A Beautiful Collision
3.) Wholly Yours
4.) Everybody Wants to go to Heaven (LP)
5.) I Can Hear the Angels Singing / (…andeverandeverand…)
6.) Be Lifted (live with Robbie Seay and Shane & Shane)
7 .) I Saw the Light (live with Robbie Seay and Shane & Shane)

The first song on the album, “Intro (I’ve Had Enough)”, starts off very lo-fi, with Crowder sitting down and getting ready before he begins playing. A quiet banjo enters midway through the intro, sounding as if it’s in the back of the room away from the microphone for a nice effect.

Track two is my favorite currently, with a glitchy-electronic feel behind Crowders voice that builds until beautiful banjo-picking takes the limelight at the chorus.  Magnetic tape whirrs and clicks encapsulate much of the track, but the feel remains organic throughout.

Track three, “Wholly Yours,” is a different treatment of a song off of A Collision, remixed with slight electronic flourishes and featuring subtle banjo on the latter half of the song.

The LP version of “Everybody Wants to go to Heaven” gracefully follows, clocking in at a generous 4:56, an expansion of the 1:04 version found on A Collision.

Track five, “I Can Hear the Angels Singing” fades into a interlude of crowd noise under the moniker “(…andeverandeverand…),” initiating the live portion of the album. “Be Lifted” and “I Saw the Light” were recorded on the road in Kansas, and they capture the live feel of Crowder’s shows rather well.

Anyway, I was very happy with this purchase; David Crowder continues to push the boundaries of his music in the pursuit of good art, and it’s a gamble that has continued to pay off with each new album. B Collision is highly recommended, in my book.