December 2000 :: CMJ :: by Jonathan Perry

Pinetop Seven brings to mind the cinematic tendencies of film-noir auteurs Sergio Leone and Jim Jarmusch as readily as they do kindred musical spirits like Lambchop and Calexico. Though it's by no means a big-budget Hollywood project- songwriter Darren Richard's imaginary plots are still more likely to star Tom Waits than Tom Hanks- the Chicago collective's fourth effort brings its widescreen vision into even sharper focus than the keen beauty of 1998's Rigging the Toplights. The dream-like atmospheres created by the band's use of vibraphone, melodica and the like are still intact, as are the waltzes and spooky instrumental dirges. What's different is Richard's greater attention to storytelling lyrics that enhance the mood of despairing languor. "Hope came to him/ As it had a hundred time" are the album's first lines ("On the Last Ride In") and they're a revealing omen of what's to follow: people adrift and afraid, girding themselves against the sorrow that trails them like a shadow through wind-swept dust bowls, barren prairies and history they're damned to repeat. Is it mere coincidence, for instance, that "Mission District," with its imagery of a plane crash, nicks an ancient melody from the Animals' doomed soldier epic, "Sky Pilot"? Or is it a subconscious continuation of the sad tale? Whatever the answer, Strike is a striking work of mournful elegance and cinematic beauty.