[.ca] Set You Free

the other reviews are not for this album??!:
this is a great record. i don't know what the first two are reviewing, but it is obviously the antithesis of chisel.

This disc is at my side at all times.:
Though the disc is sub-titled "The Home Recordings," there isn't a lack of quality in production. From the beautiful opening ballad "Latter Days" OTR's Karen Bergquist weaves a golden tapestry of honey-like songs that will leave you dripping with emotion undoubtedly tug at your heartstrings. The disc focuses its attention on human brokenness and our need for "everything" as alluded to in the second track "All I Need Is Everything." Though all the tracks are noteworthy "Latter Days," "All I Need Is Everything" and "The Seahorse" shine out the brightest. Songwriter Linford Detweiler, the band's founding member, is as literate and keen as they come. In "Latter Days" Detweiler penned: "What a beautiful piece of heartache this has all turned out to be. Lord knows we've learned the hard way all about healthy apathy. And I use these words pretty loosely. There's so much more to life than words." Detweiller hit the nail on the head, there's much more to life than words--there's music. OTR's latest release won't leave you disappointed. I'm looking forward to a new release in what I hope to be the near future.

Super!:
This is a great record. I've spent many an hour listening to this LP: I put on side A, love it, flip it over, it goes on and on and I have to flip it again. Back and forth. I bought it when it came out, and I must have listened to it twenty times the first week I had it. I put it on again just today, and I must say, it still rocks. On this record you will find, much to your delight, tightly moving three-piece rock instrument arrangments; great vocals, both solo and harmonized; some mid or late twenties guys and their families playing Beatlesesque songs to the tone of "Paperback Writer"; wherein the songs are exceptionally well composed in many respects. I say, these are talented fellows with an intelligent and pleasing sense of western harmony well applied to the modern rock sound stage. The album has great karma; it will no doubt improve your life. I don't know what the star ratings mean. I want to give it an "A". I recommend it to my friends.

DC Music At Its best:
If you happen to stumble upon this recording or this review, buy this CD. As a teenager growing up on music by the Jam, Clash, Buzzcocks, or even Scream, Replacements and Fugazi, I was spoiled by quality musicians playing intelligent music. I am happy to say that this now defunct band was as good as any of those. Set You Free is lush, diverse and fulfilling, and it is one of only a handful of records that doesn't contain a disappointing track.

Crafting music Over the Rhine-style:
Here is yet another remarkable recording by one of the most intelligent bands making music today. The spare lyrics quietly fit the music; neither is sacrificed to the other. Lead singer Karin Bergquist's voice is luminous, allowing the poetry of such songs as "Latter Days," "All I Need Is Everything," and "Poughkeepsie" to root in the listener's ear like an ohrworm, finding a snug home there. Those who appreciate music which is not afraid to doubt, to investigate what it is that makes us human, will clasp this CD tightly once they've heard it. Quiet music should be played loud.

• On Warmer Music
• All My Kin
• It's Alright, You're O.K.
• Mutable Mercury
• Town Crusher
• Unthinkable Is True
• River High
• Every Is a Good Trip
• Do Go On
• Privileged & Impotent
• Oh Dear Friends
• Amateur Thief
• In Our Time
• Morley Timmons
• O.T.S.
• Rip Off the Gift
• Last Good Time