The PhiLL(er)



The Captain's Table Cover
Ham1

The Captain's Table
Orange Twin Records

It is fitting that this band should find a home on the record label with ties to the Elephant 6 collective as the relaxed, rickety sound of this album fits nicely alongside such lynchpin bands as Neutral Milk Hotel and The Olivia Tremor Control. What separates Ham1 from those groups, and very much for the better, is their more uncomplicated approach to songwriting, eschewing fractured psychedelia for a more rustic, reverb-soaked sound that cuts a wide swath through the history of American music. When the quartet isn't trying its hand at a slow country weeper ("Another Flipped Lid Part 2"), they are paying homage to '60s radio pop ("Methmouth") and rumbling surf music (the droll instrumental "Saluki"). The Captain's Table is an album that, for all its loose and lively charm, could have easily been knocked out in an afternoon, but it is one that will stick with you for days on end.