Downpilot – Leaving Not Arriving
It’s a fine line between melancholy and moping, but Downpilot walks that line with superb grace. With its brooding lyrics and hooks that haunt you in the middle of the day, Leaving Not Arriving is full of romantic meditations that brilliantly capture life’s complexities.
Frontman Paul Hiraga’s austere delivery of the album’s opening couplet ,”I heard the most dangerous thing about you…last night”, from the song “True”, sets a ponderous mood maintained throughout the disc’s ten tracks. Hiraga’s breathy, raspy vocals lend the songs an buoyancy that allows them to move effortlessly across his emotional landscape.
On the second track, “Every Day Dream of the West”, Downpilot picks up a pace that continues until the album’s centerpiece “High Water Mark”, which spotlights the stark harmonies of violinist Anne Marie Ruljancich. She and Hiraga create a dreamy sonic terrain that’s not dissimilar to her recent work with the Walkabouts.
With elegantly layered production by Tucker Martine, the album swirls and floats and sometimes rocks. From the free-jazz horn sputters of “My Sunshine” to the atmospheric “Overground”, this is an ambitious, auspicious full-length debut.