If to evolve means to go one step back, then Don Bodin has taken the right path to carry his music to the next level on his sophomore release Like Rabbits, another soundtrack of scores to a fictional film. Bodin’s debut Greed Lust And Cloning was bombastic, with the album trying to explore a variety of ideas at the same time. The brew of rock and dance and jazz on Cloning made it dazzling and equally intense.
On Like Rabbits though, Bodin has stripped down the list of featured musicians that serenaded Cloning to just a single viola player, Leah Nelson, and in a very small part, guitarist Chris Schleyer. His focus here seems to be to extract the best out of whatever little he has, which is even more challenging if not as ambitious, than creating something lavish and big with a fleet of musicians, as was the case with Cloning.
The entire record is dominated by Nelson’s viola, while Bodin provides the sonic backdrop, which is sparse. The pianos are muted, the guitars only trickle, and percussion is hard to find except as echoes of hushed distant sounds. Bodin creates a wonderful world where it’s all about the minute details. Every note, every teeny twang plays a special part in bringing into being the mosaic of fragmented beauty hidden within the depths of this record.
However, tracks like “Busy,” “Survival,” and “Growing Pain” have a touch of Cloning with some added percussion giving them momentum; and even some grandeur as in the case of “Growing Pain” and its apocalyptic orchestral bursts.
Due to its lack of ostentation, Like Rabbits is a more focused effort than Cloning. Listening to this album is like spotting half-formed shadows of objects in semi-darkness; it has a mystique which cannot be rivaled by grander musical adornments.
If Cloning is a soundtrack to a James Bond movie, than Like Rabbits is that for the Six Feet Under series: as exciting, only not as flamboyant.
