Philosophical introspection melds with haunting folk and twangy rock intrigue on The Fifth Hammer, the fifth studio release from Art Schop. The project is led by New York-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Martin Walker, whose gripping songwriting has a tendency to frame both current and timeless circumstances in the context of history and the philosophers/artists that inhabited those earlier times — whether on 2012 album Wolfwork and its comparison of the modern financial crisis with the rise/fall of the Greek Empire, or 2021’s Starguide and its exploration of humanity’s place in the universe.
Art Schop’s latest album is inspired conceptually by Daniel Heller-Roazen’s book The Fifth Hammer: Pythagoras and the Disharmony of the World, which digs into the missteps of historical thinkers. In addition to the book’s exploration of figures like Kepler and Pythagoras, Walker expands the perspectives as well into figures like Nietzsche and Wittgenstein. The album was mixed by Mark Nevers, who also mixed one of Walker’s all-time favorite albums: Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy’s Master and Everyone.
“All Philosophy Worth the Name” opens the album with enjoyable immersion. Mellow keys complement an introspective lyrical prowess, musing on milestones like marriage and tendencies to place trust in uncertainty. “The Underachiever” is a gorgeous standout, as well — weaving strings amidst piano and folk guitar as the lyrics provide a grounded relatability: “If God allowed the holocaust, malaria, and famine, surely I can have a glass or two of wine.” Its perspectives on a flawed world, and imperfect inhabitants, plays with comfortable reassurance in warning against striving to be perfect all the time.
High-quality songwriting is abundant throughout The Fifth Hammer, described as referring to “the apocryphal tale of the original math nerd – Pythagoras – who, in a fit of pique, tosses one of the local blacksmith’s hammers into the river because it doesn’t harmonize with the other four.”
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We discovered this release via MusoSoup.
