Hammock - From the Void

A Closer Listen

Hammock has released so many great albums that it’s impossible to call any their definitive work; but last year’s Love in the Void has a right to stake its claim. Fans of that album will be overjoyed to learn that this year the duo has released a follow-up that includes four songs left off that set and four more inspired by it.  From the Void is thick and enveloping, graced by a string section and the lovely voice of Christine Byrd.

As with Love in the Void, the tone leans more toward the triumphant than the melancholic, although the emotions continue to run deep.  The opening “She Likes the Stormy Weather” is a perfect summation; even the title suggests an intermingling of emotions. Thanks to the cello, the track even sounds like dark clouds, although the violin and viola mitigate any feeling of being overwhelmed, while the post-rock guitars lift the spirit right past those storm clouds to heavenly beams of light.  It takes a few minutes to notice that there is no percussion of any kind: the weight produces a cumulus effect. Only when light drums surface on “Hindrance” does one sense the surge, as one feels the first droplets of rain; but in this case, as in that of the protagonist, the rain is welcome.

“Night As Bright As Day” is an immediate highlight, the wordless vocals of Christine Byrd soaring over layers of guitars and strings.  Again the percussion is absent, and the piece concludes with a lovely orchestral segment that affirms the message of the opening track.  We can endure loss, and given the grace of time, we may allow joy to seep through the cracks.  The combination of titles – Love in the Void and From the Void – implies the creation of something from nothing, like the first creation, like the etchings on a blank page, like music from silence, like light in the darkness, or new life, as suggested in “Ultrasound.”  With only a little imagination, one might see the cover’s Rorschach test as a magnified part of an ultrasound image.  The string-drenched track conjures images of floating and weightlessness: a cloud in the sky, a child in a womb.

Piano and a percussive, glass-like sample set “Arms Around Your Sorrow” apart, recalling both a lullaby and a wind chime.  This is what Hammock has been doing for the past few years: writing music to envelop their own sorrow while gaining the strength to put their arms around others: a slow, remarkable transformation.  If others take comfort in this music, it is because the emotions have been hard-earned.  What comes from the void is authentic, deep and true.  (Richard Allen)