Phylactery Factory
2008 studio album by White Hinterland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Phylactery Factory is the second album by American singer-songwriter Casey Dienel, but the first under the White Hinterland name.
| Phylactery Factory | |
|---|---|
| |
| Studio album by | |
| Released | March 2008 |
| Recorded | February 2007 |
| Genre | Indie pop |
| Length | 48:57 |
| Label | Dead Oceans |
| Producer | Adam Selzer |
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Les Inrockuptibles | Favorable[1] |
| Pitchfork |   [2] |
| PopMatters | [3] |
| AllMusic | [4] |
Album release
The album, written by Dienel and produced by Adam Selzer,[3] was released on March 4, 2008, from independent label Dead Oceans.
Reception
The album received predominantly positive reviews. At Pitchfork, the album received a 5.8 rating out of 10, one of its few mixed reviews, with Stephen M. Deusner writing: "Phylactery Factory is a more ambitious, more professional, and more complicated record" than Dienel's first record, "with dark jazz-pop flourishes and compositions heavy with words. It is, however, not quite as rewarding."[2] By contrast, leading French music magazine Les Inrockuptibles described the album as "the spirit of US songwriting in all its humble splendor"; like Deusner, Les InRocks critic Richard Robert described the project as "ambitious" but Robert found it "impeccably realized throughout the album, which, like Dienel's fluttering voice, breathes into every measure a fragrance of freshness rarely found in music with synthesizer."[1] At AllMusic, Stewart Mason gave the album four of five stars, calling the album "a varied, endlessly listenable album" in which "the four-piece band is supplemented by perfectly deployed horns, strings, vibes, and other instruments (including, on 'Hung on a Thin Thread,' what sounds like a musical saw), giving the album a musical depth that matches perfectly with thoughtful songs like the heartbreaking the-war-at-home narrative 'Hometown Hooray' and the jaundiced, romantic ruminations of 'Dreaming of the Plum Trees.'"[4]
Mason as well as Matthew Fiander reviewing at PopMatters noted the success of Phylactery Factory as a second album for Dienel. Fiander wrote: "Phylactery Factory, and the move to White Hinterland, is a huge step forward for Casey Dienel. As a 20-year-old singer a couple of years ago, she showed promise with her first record. Here, by making the move to full band at the right time, she has fulfilled a good deal of that promise much earlier than anyone expected. This is a confident, well-executed, endlessly beautiful record."[3]
Track listing
All songs written by Casey Dienel.[4]
- "The Destruction of the Art Deco House" – 5:57
- "Dreaming of the Plum Trees" – 4:52
- "Calliope" – 4:50
- "Hometown Hooray" – 7:08
- "Lindberghs + Metal Birds" – 3:44
- "A Beast Washed Ashore" – 6:38
- "Napoleon At Waterloo" – 3:14
- "Hung On a Thin Thread" – 4:26
- "Vessels" – 5:00