Typhoon: A New Kind of House

Updated:

March 11, 2011 3:58 pm

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Typhoon
New Kind of House
(Tender Loving Empire)
[Rating: 3 stars]

Imagine your life as a series of old houses and apartments that you can view as artifacts. That’s the concept that drives A New Kind of House, the lush five-track EP by Portland-based indie orchestra Typhoon.

That same sentiment likely also defines the 12-piece orchestral group itself, who are reminiscent of the artistic collaboratives of the ’60s. Slow, lilting guitars and gentle percussion swell into an array of sonic colors that are driven by trumpets and keyboards as happens in “Claws Pt. 1?” Something almost as startling happens in “Summer House,” as it moves from rolling percussion and strings into a Spanish-tinged romp, while vocals extol the literal and figurative joys of the season. The one constant throughout the EP is the world-weary, somewhat gritty vocals that ebb and flow with the music.

In liner notes, the band notes that this disc is a continuation of their last release, Hunger & Thirst, in which they purposely confused physical and ontological sickness noting that most “desires are only symptoms of the desire to be someone else.” In keeping with that definition, perhaps the music on this album can be described as the desire to look closely at oneself, almost as if individual lives are artifacts. However you define A New Kind of House, it’s a deeply moving sonic image of an unsettled, but ultimately lovely, place.