Southeast Engine - From the Forest to the Sea

Adam Remnant is a tortured soul. The singer of Athens, Ohio, band Southeast Engine revealed that on 2007’s A Wheel Within a Wheel, and he’s done it again on From the Forest to the Sea. The proof is in his tattered, tremulous voice, but it’s in his lyrics even more.

As on Wheel, Remnant vents his frustration through a spiritual lens, one that doesn’t have even a hint of a rose-colored tint. The record is chock full of Biblical allusions and allegory and probably other applicable words that begin with “a,” but the religiosity is never oppressive. It’s the fabric Remnant uses to reveal his shortcomings. He shows us a world that is broken and full of evil, and he wants everyone to know he’s the worst offender.

The album opens with three-part suite “The Forest,” which finds the anti-hero emerging from a wedding ceremony (possibly doubling as a funeral) and heading into the woods. “I said I wouldn’t do no evil, but evil’s just what I’ve done,” Remnant admits, and by part II there’s already talk of “broken vows.” Gorgeous piano eventually crescendos in part III. “Here I am now rising!” he exclaims, but the heavenly ascent is cut short when an outstretched arm from above turns him away.

The rest of the record mixes similar imagery with real-life details while the black cloud of an extramarital affair hangs menacingly over most songs, many of which bleed into the other; From the Forest to the Sea flows like a rolling landscape from beginning to end.

In “Black Gold,” Remnant can’t even talk about the pitfalls of the coal industry without relating it to a mistress--“Every time that she’s ignored she knocks louder on your door.” Noah’s great flood also shows up, churning and battering Remnant further. But he again makes it clear he’s no Christ type: “I can’t be walking on water when my shadow weighs a ton.”

Southeast Engine elicits fewer early Wilco comparisons these days. Still, amid the saloon piano, carnival organs and crunchy guitars, that malleable “Americana” signifier still seems to fit. And as with most concept albums, this record isn’t immediately accessible. It takes a few spins to let the metanarrative sink in. And while there aren’t many traditional song structures here, they’re still singable and become progressively addictive.

There’s a little sliver of light on the last song of the album, “From the Roots of the Mountains to Your Holy Temple.” As Remnant/the protagonist’s life is coming to an end at the bottom of the sea, his blood will become oil, greedy men will find him and “it’ll be up and out through the tunnel to rise into the sky.” It’s redemption in a sense, but a mucky one, because while we know that he’s headed toward the temple, Remnant never tells us if that outstretched arm brings him into the fold this time around. Spiritually, his journey isn’t over, and that bodes well for Southeast Engine musically. To steal a slogan, Remnant’s pain is our gain.

Southeast Engine’s Columbus release show is tonight at the Treehouse with the Kyle Sowashes, the Coke Dares and Frontier Ruckus.

mp3: Southeast Engine - Black Gold

(Also at The Other Paper.)