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Album Details

• Artist: Danielson
• Album: Ships
• Label: Secretly Canadian
• Year of Release: 2006
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2006-09-08

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Danielson will sneak into your room without making a sound, but once in there, prepare to fill your diaper. They are not shocking, but give the impression that they’ve seen some horror, and want to share it with you. Daniel Smith has been making art and music with family and friends since 1995, majestic odes to community that in their own right are a massive novel, an under the radar masterpiece. Ships brings together all the people Smith has worked with over the years, including members of Deerhoof and Sufjan Stevens, to create a stunning record that is both a summing up and creative milestone in its own right. Danielson, in all its/his forms, has done what only the best artists do: create an entire singular world, fit for enjoying, analyzing, reveling. Performances by the band over the years have been done in uniforms, each with the member’s name on the front. This seems to me to emphasize the sense of individual and communal pride in the work. Here, many of the songs are primed for a live reading, especially “Bloodbook On The Halfshell”, “Did I Step On Your Trumpet”, and “When It Comes To You I'm Lazy.” I dare you to not need at least a day out of work to process the beauty of “Cast It at the Setting Sail.” Literate and naked, joyful and blunt, this rocks and sings you to sleep, and rocks you into waking up for real.

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