Eight Bells - The Captain's Daughter

Eight Bells' debut full-length The Captain's Daughter is an album I like a lot. It is also an album I'm having difficulty writing about. So I wont. Instead I give you two quotes, that gives you an insight into Melynda Jackson inspiration for her mesmerizing songs (From Inhale the Heavy and Invisible Oranges). And a summary of Mr. Atanamar Sunyata's feelings for the album (from Mindful of Metal).

I am not sure what I can tell you about the songs – they are inspired by pain, joy, but probably mostly pain(for my part). I think we(humans) are in kind of a sad time of struggle – I think there Is too much cruelty and way too much hopelessness. We are getting so far away from what it means to be human and humane. This state of affairs disturbs me – there are forces at work that we cannot see – and they are pretty powerful.

Inspiration comes from various corners . . . wind howling around the corners of a prairie house . . . cracks in the dirt so deep that light can’t reach the bottom . . . rattling tin from a dilapidated barn making noise in the wind . . . Abandoned farm houses, barren hills, that one tree that will never grow tall . . . stinging nettles that entice you to touch their blossoms. Long periods without rain, thunder, and lightning. My amazing mom and grandmother. I dunno?

Eight Bells’ eclectic meanderings add up to more than the sum of their parts. The Captain’s Daughter plies a pleasing post-rock weirdness, peppering your ears with acts of aggression and moments of abject beauty. It is terse and captivating; these are hymns of mind-melting magnificence.

I also invite you to take the time and listen for yourselves, in the hope that you will find something that inspires you.