The Lonesome Organist, Cavalcade (Thrill Jockey) 9
Next time you consider taking the rugrats or younger siblings to the carnival, consider sneaking them into the next Lonesome Organist show. Jeremy J. Jacobsen is a master of pure showmanship, performing unheard of feats of coordination on as many as five instruments at once, and he even tops his shows off with a tap dance routine. This unmatched one man band is more than just a sideshow. His musicianship all the instruments is of professional quality, and his knowledge of traditional music is deep. On his second album, Jacobsen whips through an off-kilter carousel of genres, including turn-of-the century vaudeville, Italian cinema, Carl Stalling cartoon scores, barroom piano rolls ("Cranked Up Too Hard"), Spanish guitar picking and even Appalacian yodelling ("All of Those Dirty Swine"). Just as he expanded his instrumental repertoire to include bowed and struck saws, saxophone, steel drum and synthesizer, he twists each influence so that each composition is stamped with the Lonesome Organist persona. On the spooky "The Storm Past By" and "Vibe Sequencer," Jacobsen picks up where Van Dyke Parks left off in his exploration of the Calypso steelbands of Trinidad in 1972's Discover America. The accordian-driven "The Low Strike" is seductively evil circus music that evokes the dark atmosphere of Tom Waits' The Black Rider. He also features some gruff Wait-like howling on "Fly on My Plate." One could imagine Jacobsen recording to his two-track in a hundred year-old haunted house, performing the cute yet eerie "Boing!" as the poltergeists dance a sly jig, until he soothe restless spirits with the sprawling midnight lament of "Lap Steel." True to his jaw-dropping live shows, he played all the instruments at the same time. Like the ghosts, seeing is believing.
