Loving off the Land

Loving off the Land might appropriately be aligned with the sort of weird, experimental projects tossed off by the eccentric psychedelic hermits (Syd Barrett, Big Boy Pete, Julian Cope, E, Mark Linkous) of pop's past and present, artists for whom it has taken either time or a healthy body of work or both to gain their due posterity. Barth had the luxury of funneling all his oddest composing predilections into this project, as his full-time gig is with the band the Impossible Shapes (Chris also plays bass for the newly signed Kill Rock Stars band the John Wilkes Booze). Essentially with only his own two hands, Barth created a piece that defies easy classification or easy listening. Full of atypical song structures, novel instrumental textures, and melodies that recall folk or world forms more often than pop or rock ones, this is a strange, beautiful album. -AllMusicGuide