On
Field Recordings from Cook County Water Table,
Tortoise bassist
Doug McCombs' solo debut as
Brokeback, the Chicago scene veteran doesn't let his ideas get cluttered or allow the album to lapse into a needless
Tortoise-rehash. A number of the songs are far less structured than
Tortoise's, while others indulge in a loose-limbed groove that the band's
TNT album avoided. On the glacially unfolding "The Wilson Ave. Bridge at the Chicago River, 1953,"
McCombs introduces a friendly, low-toned rhythm and then adds a higher-register solo on top, moving forward only with the add of some simple shakers.
Tortoise fans will devour the head-nodding "The Field Code" and the final four minutes of "The Wilson Ave. Bridge at the Chicago River, 1953," two classic swatches of bottom-heavy bliss. "A Blueprint" serves as the more sprightly relative to
Tortoise's "Along the Banks of Rivers," featuring husky bass accompaniment from
Noel Kupersmith and
Tortoise's
John McEntire on triangle (
McEntire engineered the album). "Returns to the Orange Grove" and "The Flat Curving" go in a different direction, resembling the skeletal playing style of guitarist
Loren MazzaCane Connors. For the
Pell Mell-ish "Seiche 2," the album's most "rock" track,
McEntire steps behind the drum kit to provide a fine strut underneath
McCombs' slinkily cool melody.