These Arms Are Snakes -- Tail Swallower and Dove

8/10

I've rarely had high hopes for a band met with such personal confusion like I've had with These Arms Are Snakes. I absolutely loved their debut E.P., This Is Meant to Hurt You, but then found myself only slightly liking the band's subsequent two full lengths. All of the acclaim from the circles I frequented only made me more confused: Everybody else is loving this...so why don't I? I found my enthusiasm for the band decreasing, and I stopped keeping up with them as closely. A couple years passed until the fall of 2008, when I was cool and lived in mid-city. One breezy afternoon, I went out for a jog to my local record store. I arrived at The Compact Disc Store, refreshed and slightly sweaty, and started digging through their considerable vinyl selection, ironic, considering the store's name.
Well, what do I find in the new release section, but These Arms Are Snakes' just pressed-to-wax Tail Swallower and Dove. Despite the fact that I'd lost my excitement for the band, The Compact Disc Store was selling this brand new Theses Arms Are Snakes album for $10 AND it included a digital download card. I ended up running the second half of my jog (which included a trip by the library) with a paper bag-wrapped record in the crook of my arm.
My wife cut hair at the salon on Saturday's back then, so when I got back to our apartment, I threw on the white-and-pink-splattered vinyl, and (thanks patient neighbors who humored my nonstop record listening back then!) cranked up Tail Swallower and Dove, expecting the worst. Thankfully, the record is a pleasant surprise.
Tail Swallower and Dove features the best production by far of any of These Arms Are Snakes' releases. I've listened to it digitally many times since, and can attest it's not just the vinyl. Everything sounds sharper, clearer, thicker. These Arms Are Snakes' dense, experimental hard rock, featuring noodling, effects-laden distorted guitar riffs, complex bass grooves, and technical drum patterns aplenty, needs room to breathe. The band's first two full-lengths, while solid, are both claustrophobic experiences to the point that they become draining, and always have me daydreaming and tuning out around the 3/4 mark. Thankfully, These Arms Are Snakes' sound not only benefits from Tail Swallower and Dove's production, but by its more spacious arrangements, and better pacing.
Yes, songs still feature repetitive grooves, but sections shift enjoyably, and have more room to move around in general. Best of all, the band centers the album around the 7.5 minute "Ethric Double," a song which contains more space than both of the band's previous records combined. "Ethric Double" contains some incredibly dynamic moments, with the band exploring both quiet and loud to heretofore unventured degrees. Also, why isn't "unventured" a word?
The risk pays off dividends, as Tail Swallower and Dove flows better than any of the band's work outside of that debut E.P. Unfortunately, it's the last album the band would ever record. They went quiet at the end of 2009. I saw them on tour that year, at The Spanish Moon. I arrived excitedly, as the band had a reputation for insanely raucous live performances. My wife was pregnant at the time, and I was trying to attend as many shows as possible, figuring it would be much harder to do so as a father...which it mostly has been. Anyway, the band were clearly quite inebriated by the start of their show, and only grew more inebriated as the night wore on. "Wore on" is overstating it, as the band tapped out of their sloppy performance less than 40 minutes in--and they were the headliner. I felt bad for the people I brought along, considering I'd hyped up These Arms Are Snakes' performances so much.At least the band's final recorded statement is far from a disappointment.


2008 Suicide Squeeze Records
1. Woolen Heirs 4:15
2. Prince Squid 3:16
3. Red Line Season 2:33
4. Lucifer 2:36
5. Ethric Double 7:32
6. Seven Curtains 5:15
7. Long and Lonely Step 2:34
8. Lead Beater 4:22
9. Cavity Carousel 4:33
10. Briggs 6:52