at a glance...

Hometown: Virginia
Formed: 1995

Personnel:
Jack Rose and Jason Bill -guitars, keyboards, reeds

Bands in the family :
Pelt, Charalambides

Jack Rose and Jason Bill are masters at making mind-altering music; pulsing organ drones and thick fuzzy guitar tones, repetitive phrases and open-ended structures are all grist for their mill. Each of Via St. Louis's seven instrumentals evolves from one dominant sound; sullenly plucked guitars on "Forest For the Trees," an overblown reed instrument on "Heat of the Bells," heavily echoed violins on "Flood Stage." Each piece builds to a satisfyingly enveloping resolution, but it's not always easy to say how it got there. That's partly because the snaking horn lines, swirling guitar loops, and static keyboard chords hypnotize the listener before any sustained analysis is possible. It's also because the duo rarely lapse into an easily pegged style. "Sting of the Yellow Jackets" may be awash in swooping slide guitars, but it'll never be mistaken for a blues tune. And the acoustic violin and guitar on "You Are Not of My People" sound more like the sounds that issue from some primeval forest than a fiddling and picking combo.