Musee Mecanique

-A Local Cut review of us by Anika Sabin-

Take the sketches of da Vincis ambition, the dusty air of a crowded but closing antique shop, and the organizational skills of Joseph Cornell and youve got Musee Mecanique. Named after the mechanical museum and arcade on the San Francisco wharf, this Portland (group) peddles old-tyme folk soaked in quiet pop. Sean Ogilvie (formally of Tristeza), Micah Rabwin and an assortment of others chime in on the glockenspiel, violin, musical saw, and cello to weave ornate but humble jangles of reflection and aching esoterics. Much of their work speaks of time and a glowing tension emerges between nostalgia and waiting for something to happen. Ultimately, theres a hesitant reconciliation with the transitory nature of time through the artifacts they stumble upon.

In Nothing Glorious there is a feeling of limbo, where lost love is often still inescapable. The song begins with modern atmospherics, yet quickly encounters downtrodden vocals and sweepingly fragile violins. A sort of music box folk is created in their preoccupations with quietly found wreckage and treasure of a time passed but still persistent. Listening to Musee Mecanique is like walking through a faire ground the morning after, where the shine of today intermingles with the washed out romance of yesterday.