Dave Heumann
Here in the Deep
Release Date: Oct 16, 2015
Genre(s): Pop/Rock
Record label: Thrill Jockey
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Album Review: Here in the Deep by Dave Heumann
Very Good, Based on 4 Critics
Based on rating 3.5
As a member of Arbouretum, Dave Heumann is not unfamiliar with utilising pastoral tones and folk inflections in his music. But when the band took a year out, Heumann began writing and recording a solo project, and the result is an album that leans more heavily on his folk inspirations. Fans of Arbouretum will not be disappointed however; whilst Here In The Deep is a more sedate album than any Heumann’s main band has ever made, there’s always been a kernel of folk and country in their psychedelic, spaced out rock.
Based on rating 7/10
Head here to submit your own review of this album. After five albums with Arbouretum, the band which he founded in 2002, singer and guitarist Dave Heumann has taken advantage of a year-long break in the band's activities to record his first solo album, Here in The Deep. Those familiar with Arbouretum's psychedelic take on classic folk-rock will find plenty to enjoy here, although Heumann has chosen to try a few different approaches on the album, which serve to underline its status as a definite solo album, and not just a patchwork of Arbouretum leftovers.
Opinion: Excellent
The last time this writer encountered Dave Heumann was at the Green Man festival in 2013 when, fronting the mighty bucolic psyche beast Arbouretum, he engaged in a series of guitar solos so epic that the band managed to cram in just five songs in to their allotted 45 minutes. It was one of those festival moments that linger long in the memory. Engaging, hypnotic and truly beguiling, Arbouretum's set was far from self-indulgent; every note, every drone and every beat was an essential component to expansive and engaging story telling.
Opinion: Very Good
Dave Heumann — Here in the Deep (Thrill Jockey)Photo by Matt CondonDave Heumann’s first solo album is very much in line with his work in Arbouretum, a feedback-heavy, psychedelic take on folk rock that borrows the modal melodies, the finger-picked lyricism of acoustic folk and amps it up to crunchy arena style. Here in the Deep is modestly quieter and less pyrotechnic than Arboretum’s transcendent debut Rites of Uncovering, but it finds epiphany in the same sources — natural imagery, echo-haunted blues progressions and distortion. Heumann has rallied a crew of mostly Baltimoreans to back him up.
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