While resisting easy categorization, the Dry Spells could well be
slotted within the freak-folk, New Weird America, or folk-rock alcoves.
There are forlorn-sounding, slightly “off” (key- and pitch-wise) female
harmonies, ringing and mildly distorted (as in “trippy”) guitars,
keening violin, distant-sounding drums, a brooding ambiance, and
melodies that could, if louder and played with more panache, be from
the Decemberists’ latest opus or pre-Passion Play Jethro
Tull.
Too Soon for Flowers is somewhat uneasy listening, and I’ve
the feeling Dry Spells wouldn’t have it any other way. With original
songs that sound as if they could have been written last month, forty
years ago, or adapted from ancient British Isles or early American folk
sources, Flowers is compelling in its disconsolate, goth-y
otherworldliness. What, alas, brings the album down a couple of notches
is the monochromatic sameness of the vocals throughout — the
singing never gets beyond the shade of naive, winsome little-girl-lost.
Occasionally, the Spells’ haunted vocal blend evokes an American
counterpart to the tiny twin Japanese girls in the movie Mothra vs.
Godzilla (aka Godzilla vs. The Thing).
The set closes with a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s hit “Rhiannon”
— too bad they didn’t follow the Mac’s example and inject some
oomph and dynamism into the album as a whole. (Antenna Farm)
