Flatbasset Radio's Album Of The Week for the week of January 5th-11th, 2014:
Rogue Valley - False Floors
01. False Floors
02. Dangerous Diamonds
03. Blueprints
04. Hunters And Trappers
05. Bay Of Pigs
06. Icebox
07. Orion
08. The Scattering Moon
09. Onward And Over
10. Shoulder To Shoulder Around The Fire
11. The Wolves And The Ravens
Well here we are, everybody, time for the fourth and final Rogue Valley album.
If you've been following along with the blog/podcast over the last year you've hopefully noticed that Rogue Valley has been my Album Of The Week every three months. This was not a coincidence. Chris Koza and his band wrote and recorded four separate albums to coincide with each of the seasons. Beginning last spring with Crater Lake, through summer with The Bookseller's House, and into fall with Geese In The Flyway, I've spent the past year listening to each of these albums in the order they were released and during the seasons that make up the theme for each album. As you can probably imagine, sticking to this plan has made for a rewarding experience.
Which leaves us here in post-holidays dead of winter, kicking off the new year with their "winter album" False Floors.
Now, before I get into False Floors, let me just explain what a curious task it's been to attempt to write about these albums. Rogue Valley mastermind Chris Koza was a well-accomplished songwriter long before he undertook this Rogue Valley project, which means that this four-album run doesn't follow the same trajectory as most bands. For example, listening to The Smiths albums 1-4, you get from The Smiths to Strangeways, Here We Come or, to use a more local example, you get from The Replacements Sorry Ma... to Let It Be. However, because of the condensed time frame and professionalism of the band, that raw-to-polished narrative doesn't exist with Rogue Valley.
Instead, we've been treated to four albums of good-to-great indie pop songs. With the cycle broken up into 46 songs over four albums, the differences from album to album tend to be more subtle. The Bookseller's House had an easy, breezy feeling of summer with tales of relationships and rolled down windows. Geese In The Flyway, on the other hand, focused more on the life, death, and transitional nature that accompanies autumn.
And so it goes with False Floors. The album is rich with signposts of winter. Icicles, hibernation, visible breath, clear night constellations, hell, even the name False Floors is a reference to not-quite-frozen lakes. All of these things make it quite clear that this is indeed the "winter album."
Those things, however, are the most obvious points of reference. Listening to the album over the week I couldn't help but be struck by some of the same the much larger themes at work. Wonder, dread, isolation, & endurance are all side effects of these long Minnesota winters and Koza makes it clear that each of these experiences (whether enjoyable or not) is essential to coping with winter and, in a larger sense, coping with aging and the passing of time.
The best example of all of these things at work is at the album's mid-way point and a song called "Icebox."
In the song Koza mentions the long nights of winter, the lack of warmth, a car that won't start, hell, frozen hands, he even mentions the collapse of the stars. And yet, the key line in the song is, "I feel lucky, I can see my breath, it means that I'm still kicking..." Winter is tough. Hell, life is tough. Yet, you press on because eventually the car will start, you'll be able to feel your hands, and winter will end.
Like I said at the top, listening to these albums during the seasons they're meant to be about has made the listening experience more rewarding and I genuinely believe that's been most evident with False Floors. It's a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, but hearing songs exploring these themes of isolation while slogging through yet another winter and actually living these things makes the album my favorite of the group (though, admittedly, I'll probably feel different as the seasons change. Geese In The Flyway is nearly flawless).
All that being said, I will yet again highly recommend that you check out the records for yourself. They're all available on Rogue Valley's Bandcamp page ranging from "Name Your Price" downloads to an ultra-saucy vinyl pack. You won't regret it.
For more of my rantings you can give me a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma). Previous episodes of Flatbasset Radio are archived on his Mixcloud page. Stop by Flatbasset Radio's Facebook Page & give it a "Like" if you have the time.
