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Frog Eyes :: "Caravan Breakers (Daytrotter Session)"Caravan Breakers (Daytrotter Session) (2006)
Holy shit. Just when I’m starting to get disappointed about the new EP (The Future is Inter-Disciplinary or Not At All), Carey Mercer and his manic band of carnival freaks let loose with this six-minute shot across the bows of average rock. Mercer quakes, whines, and trembles like some revival preacher possessed by the spirit (though in Mercer’s case you never know what spirit you’re dealing with): basically, he does everything he ought to be doing.
The song, easily among the best Frog Eyes have produced, manages to complement Mercer’s sheer fucking insanity with a killer melody. The band has always been tight, but now they sound damn-near flawless, turning on a dime with Mercer. It’s songs like this that make it clear how Spencer Krug got where he is today: paying a whole lot of attention while he was working with these guys (it’s pretty easy to believe the reports that he’s working on Frog Eyes’ new record given the sound of this track). The second half of this song alone, where they play the screaming electric guitar against the steady drum line and piano melody, is enough to make me start salivating for the new album.
Still, as with most things involving Frog Eyes (aside from that sadly overlooked Destroyer EP from last year), Mercer always is the make-or-break element, and he’s on fire here. Everything from that first shriek onward makes the song impossible to ignore. His timing is flawless, as he spits fast through the first verse and then slows it down, launching into that vicious refrain of, “caravan breakers / they fucking pray for the / weak, weak and the old / I, I, I / I prey on the / weak, weak and the old.” Needless to say, as a person who still considers “even cancer needs a home” (from The Folded Palm's "Russian Berries but You're Quiet Tonight") one of the finest lines of the ‘00s, I couldn’t be happier.
Peter Hepburn :: 30 June 2006 |
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