Saturday, August 27, 2011

The Tinklers, Saplings (side A)

Baltimore's Tinklers sang silly, child-like songs using simple, home-made instruments.  Despite this unfashionable approach, they managed to release 3 proper albums with real distribution.  1991's Saplings is the second of the three.  Despite having been recorded in a studio, it emphasizes the band's naïveté.  There are obvious effects in places, but the studio's capabilities are mostly used to exaggerate the voices and instruments' already absurd textures.  Side A includes a series of short a cappella interludes, while side B ends with a longer and more complex song (with synthesizer overdubs, even!) than is typical of the band's work—"Paul Bunyan".  The dimensionless cover painting and awkwardly-handwritten font on the front cover match the contents perfectly.

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