Builder of the House
Ornaments
sonaBLAST! Records
It’s fitting that the first full-length album by Builder of the House has a solid musical foundation. On Ornaments, the Portland duo of Rob Cimitile and Elliot Heeschen precisely plotted the sonic and lyrical avenues they wanted to explore. They’ve written odes to the tentative and the withdrawn, and set them to some of the most popular indie-pop sounds of the last decade: the Graceland-ian joy bombs of Vampire Weekend, the autumnal folk of Fleet Foxes, the hipster-banjo singalongs of The Lumineers. Sorry for all those name drops. Though usually the mark of a lazy critic, they’re apt here. Ornaments is a derivative album, the kind that reminds us that originality can be overrated. Cimitile and Heeschen first met as members of a Zimbabwean marimba band, and they apply all the rhythmic and melodic skill required to play that music into “Lily.” It’s a shameless Vampire Weekend homage, and also a great song full of sticky, syncopated hooks and bouncing barbershop bass notes. When the pair combines their musical chops with ego-boosting lyrics, we get a glimpse of their full potential. “We’re all meant to grow / Shape and change the status quo,” Cimitile sings on the circular folk tune “Never Going Back Again.” It’ll be worth watching Builder of the House do exactly that in the years to come.
— Joe Sweeney
Builder of the House plays The Widowmaker Lounge, in Carrabassett Valley, on Dec. 29.
