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Three for Silver, The Way We Burn (Foggy Night)
[DEVIL'S CABARET] The nocturnal sound of Portland trio Three For Silver lurks so heavily in the shadows it's hard to imagine that it ever sees the light of day. Newest effort The Way We Burn is a zealous concoction of old time-y folk, brooding pop and misty chamber arrangements. The Tom Waits influence on vocalist Lucas Warford is unmistakable, his guttural tirades offset by bandmate Willo Sertain's much lighter register. The torchlit, cavernous feel of the record is its signature attribute, grounded in the bellows of a custom bass banjo, sullen strings and Warford's of-the-grave singing. Opener "This Time Tomorrow" is a murky blues number that seems to run from the insect-like pestering of accordion and violin while "Take Me Away" contemplates death to busy bass work and a seesawing violin. There's some eerie filler, but for the most part, the album puts craft before kitsch. The trio even has a ready-made hit in "Get Thee Hence," an emotive ballad that comes across as a delightfully grizzly version of "What A Wonderful World," before igniting into a frantic haunted hoedown. Post-apocalyptic sounds may be en vogue right now, but Three For Silver seems deliberately stationed under their own rock, far away from any trends, and on The Way We Burn, that's all for the better.
SEE IT: Three For Silver plays the Old Church, 1422 SW 11th Ave., with Eliza Rickman, on Friday, Sept. 8. 8 pm. $10 advance, $15 day of show. All ages.
