Jackrabbit

The band comprises seven members including a mini-orchestral section which include trumpet, saxophone, violin, drums and guitar. These talented players are entwined with Charlene Kaye and Allen Tate's voices providing visceral accompaniment from the top and bottom of the vocal scale respectively. The instrumentation is often very classical and it's traditional style heightens the tone and lifts the spirit. However, the odd instrumental tracks - "Ecstatic Thoughts", "The Cave", "The Glory" - and the twilight moments that end most songs mark discordant experimentation. Brass breaks down into electronic buzzing or violins screech in a disturbing beep akin to an old-fashioned 'engaged' dialling tone. Kaye is cooing, angelic or rapturously operatic while Tate's a sometime smooth, at others rumbling, baritone (à la Justin Vernon on Hadestown) acting as creepy voyeur on "Woman in Red". The fixation on "little eyes", a "little mouth" and "little arms" over a series of songs is a disturbing thought.