The Honest Hour North Pole AK

The Honest Hour

Assembly of Dust

Hybrid Recordings, 2004

REVIEW BY: Tammy Childs

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 08/26/2005

This one is described as "60 minutes of unadulterated, liveAssembly of Dust recorded at Revolution Hall, Troy, New York," andit's hard to argue with that.

The group felt this was their most honest hour of live music,but still cleaned up the recording to cut out some obnoxiousaudience noise, thus making it similar to a studio recording butstill retaining the natural energy and spontaneity of a liveperformance.

Formed in 2002, the guys in Assembly of Dust have played withmembers of Phish, Cake, the Allman Brothers, the Grateful Dead, theTalking Heads and even Chuck Berry. That work has paid off -- this"hick-funk" album that recalls Paul Simon but still maintainsenough individualism to stand out.

"Harrower" is a rich, earthy piece incorporating a sliver ofcountry. The vocals thrive, the guitar work is crisp and vibrantand makes a nice contrast to the vocals and keyboard flourishes. Itsets the precedent for the rest of the CD.