Edition Manifold 
The Weird Weeds : Hold Me (US,2004)***
This quartet (now a trio) from Austin, TX, for this album was demoed by three guitarists (Sandy Ewen, Kurt Newman, Aaron Rusell), drummer (Nick Hennies) with two persons singing (Sandy & Nick), with just a few details of other arrangements on other instruments like mellotron on the intro.
While with one fundament of singer-songwriting, there is, at its best, some attention to layers of interwoven communication between different characters of the guitar players, from melodic towards experimental, with sudden switches and turns, with mostly an improvised feel built around the songs. The album has different interesting elements in this way, but near the end the evolution isn't just calm but also too slow and minimal. The songs are complaint-like in a pop manner. When all three guitarists were doing things on top of each other and the drumming interacting as well, I liked the group best, like on "Castor Plants". I wonder with one guitarist less, how the music has evolved since.
