DoF: Red Pine Pasture
Abandon Building

Most artists run from the “folktronica” label but Pittsburgh native Brian Hulick seems quite happy to have his DoF music labeled as such. His latest collection Red Pine Pasture is split between six new songs and five remixes by Set in Sand, Phylum Sinter, Low in the Sky, Juxta~Phona, and Crillix. A typical DoF track (e.g., “A Cloud in Three,” “Grain,” “Adverb”) sparkles with multi-layers of acoustic guitars, electronic beats, and honey-dew vocals and generally opts for jubilance rather than melancholia. In the originals, Sinestetici adds feathery vocals to the jubilant romp “Evening Wolves” and Brittney Zafonte adds breathy vocalizing on the rollicking “The Threshing” and on “Silence and Shame” where vocal harmonies swirl in lush counterpoint.

“Proli, the Imposter” becomes a jittery whirligig in Set in Sand's hands while Low in the Sky adds hip-hop to the folktronic mix on “Last Night Static.” In one of the strongest makeovers, guitars shudder and beats ricochet in Crillix's agitated “The Light Village” but the song's most distinguished by its enchanting melodies. With the exception of Phylum Sinter, whose version of “Reality is Phonetic” is stately and melancholy, the remixers don't stray radically away from DoF's upbeat style, and the album consequently feels more cohesive than one might expect, given its unusual, team-based make-up.

February 2008