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Ethereal Grace
01/04/2001 10:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Bryan Reesman
What's in a name? Ofttimes a debate, as Faith & Disease know full well. "That name itself has opened and closed doors in the past," admits the band's co-founder, Eric Cooley. "Some people really like it, and some people think it's too pretentious. It's something that I came up with 10 years ago, and it might have borne out a more dramatic mindset at the time. But it's our name, and we have to live with it."
Throughout their five albums, the Seattle-based etherealites have produced haunting songs that match their cryptic moniker, with Dara Rosenwasser's gossamer vocals riding delicate waves of guitar, bass, and drums. Though their early material mined a heavier dark-rock vein, over time, more serene elements have intertwined through their work: the pastoral qualities of folk and country, the spirituality of classical vocals, and the airiness of ambient music. Co-songwriters Cooley and Rosenwasser have never thought what they were doing had a tag. "It didn't really dawn on us when we were making [our last album] Insularia that putting a pedal steel guitar on a few songs would get us lumped in with 'country,'" Cooley remarks.
Once associated by default with the Goth scene, Faith & Disease have become difficult to categorize, a fact not lost on Cooley. "For better or worse, yeah," concurs the bassist/guitarist. "Sometimes I think we'd almost be better off, in some regards, if we were just a narrowly niched band, if we were nothing but a Goth band. But unfortunately, we really can't do that."
Suffice to say that tranquil, introspective beauty remains a band staple. In fact, on their latest release, Beneath The Trees, Faith & Disease--whose recently solidified lineup also includes vocalist and flautist Charlotte Sather and drummer Barry Semple--are quieter and more mellow than ever. "It just happened that way," says Rosenwasser. "A good friend of ours said it was the 'album we had to make.' I think he meant we had to get it out of our systems."
The album's arresting starkness was inspired to a large degree by the group's 1998 tour promoting Insularia. F&D's drummer and guitarist at that time were fading out of the band, but Dara and Eric still wanted to tour, so they brought Sather along and performed as a stripped-down, drummerless three-piece. It was a challenging situation to face on a rock club tour, but the band enjoyed the "unplugged" format. "Not only did we pull it off, I think we ended up surprising our audience, because they didn't know what was coming," recalls Rosenwasser. "We got a lot of positive feedback from it. It just felt right."
As subtle as their music is their lyrical approach. Faith & Disease like to make discreet concept albums. "It might take someone about 20 listens before they piece it together," says Cooley. "We don't make it literal. We don't map out a narrative like an old Yes album or Rush's 2112. We know it's there, but it's for the listener to decipher."
Trees also includes another F&D fundamental: covers. In the past, Faith & Disease have tackled material by Cowboy Junkies, prog-rockers Renaissance, and darkwave group Black Tape For A Blue Girl; this time they take on an 18th-century aria (the title track) and the traditional murder ballad "Banks Of The Ohio," originally recorded by old-time country outfit the Blue Sky Boys and used in the film Paper Moon. The latter track fits in particularly well with the group's distinctive sound. "We didn't want to record it in a modern fashion," explains Cooley. "It's actually recorded and mixed in mono, noise and everything, so it sounds like it's either playing on a distant AM radio or an old 78."
In general, Cooley espouses the D.I.Y. ethic, or as he puts it, "the absurdity of picking up a bass or guitar, not really knowing what you're doing, but wanting to form a band anyway. Joy Division did it, Siouxsie & the Banshees did it, the Cure did it, so give it a try. And I think that balances [us] out nicely. I don't know how we create, it just comes together magically."
Which may explain why many listeners and critics are at a loss to pin down categorically the music of Faith & Disease. "I wish we had a genre we could proudly proclaim as ours," sighs Cooley, "but none of them seem to fit." With a soft chuckle, Rosenwasser adds: "We've always been outcasts, so that's OK."
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