(photo: Toby Marie Bannister)

You ever eaten a bad cucumber?  When you put it in your mouth, you know something isn’t quite right, but you just can’t put your finger on what it is.  Texture?  Taste?  Smell?  None of the above.  You probably won’t even be aware of it until later, much later, when what ever it it that makes bad food bad starts doing it’s thing inside your gutt.  It ain’t in the eating so much as it’s in the after-eaten that rumbles the tummy.

Don’t fret, I’m not comparing Octoberman’s Fortresses to eating a bad cucumber–but I will compare it to the panacea you’d take to make yourself feel better.  It’s ironic because there’s an image of a lone nurse in vintage uniform on the cover, enticing listeners to rest their weary hearts, heads, ears–and yes–even stomachs for a while and let Marc Morissette’s honest and vulnerable set of achey-breaky-bluesy songs make you forget about your own troubles.

Fortresses is a welcomed reminder of how much I liked the previous Octoberman album, Run From Safety. It was featured here back in 2007 and has been lost in the iTunes abyss for awhile.  Morrissette and band have really moved forward, bulky up and bolstering their sound.  It isn’t more aggressive as much as its more assured.  Fortresses will be out in October, and I certainly hope that it doesn’t fall through the cracks as the glut of year-end releases begin.  It would certainly be a shame if people didn’t get a chance to hear it.

Now, does anyone know what to do if you’ve eaten bad cucumber?  Is there a doctor in the house?

MP3: Octoberman “Trapped in the New Scene”
Myspace: Octoberman