Album Review: Celilo - Bending Mirrors (Homesweet Music)

The opening song on BENDING MIRRORS, Easter Lily could quite easily have been included in the organised chaos that was Journey Through the Past, Neil Young's ambitious early 1970s film soundtrack. Initially it has the same sort of jamming immediacy, then settles into a perfectly likeable rock driven anthem with a slight nod towards Dark Side era Pink Floyd. Portland's Celilo, comprised of Sloan Martin providing lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Damon Dunning and Adam East sharing lead guitar and bass duties, Kipp Crawford on drums, Tucker Jackson with that all important pedal steel and finally David Pulliam on keyboards, together with a handful of guest musicians have come up with a piece of laid back and lyrical Americana that straddles the boundaries between inde rock, psychedelia and country folk.

At times unavoidably sounding like Neil Young's kid brothers or occasionally Ryan Adams, Celilo have managed to plough their own furrow, largely due to the writing credentials of former drummer turned frontman Sloan Martin. The themes do vary but the songs are unified by the sensitive arrangements and production prowess of the band and Mike Coykendall (She&Him, Blitzen Trapper and M. Ward) respectively.

If indeed the opening song has the driven rock base of a Young classic, then the bulk of the album settles into almost contemplative ballad mode demonstrating the sensitive side of Martin's writing such as the achingly confessional love poem Pinata or the soulful Bush Pilot. Martin's strong point though is in the almost surreal rhetoric he employs in songs such as Little Coquette. 

Currently working with producer Gregg Williams (Sheryl Crow, Dandy Warhols) on a new EP to coincide with the band's forthcoming autumn tour of the UK, Celilo's credentials as live contenders will be scrutinised as eagerly as their recorded work. One to watch out for.