The debut album from the Viking Progress (aka Patrick Morales) comes packaged with a ready-made if unique narrative: Morales conceived the project, a compendium of imagined responses to an impending apocalypse, while working on a fishing boat in Alaska. Whistling initially feels like one of those albums that tends to sink under its own conceptual weight. But Morales proves a gifted songsmith, and tales of conjunctive human bliss in the face of certain death ("The Couple") hold their own against the album's weighty backdrop. Elsewhere Morales' characters are death-defying: "The Captain" chooses self-sacrifice over the alternative, and the musical backdrop is equally bold. Whistling doesn't fall far from the earthy Elephant 6 tree; in fact, Neutral Milk Hotel horn man Scott Spillane assists on several tracks. Other Georgia notables appear, including members of Venice is Sinking and pacificUV. But to his credit, Morales shines throughout. Whistling is a memorable and shockingly sure-footed record. (4 out of 5 stars)
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