Album review: SHEARWATER - Animal Joy

Highlights: Animal Life, Breaking The Yearlings, You As You Were

I guess that at this stage one can no longer feel induced to mention Okkervil River in a Shearwater review. Granted, the leader and co-founder Jonathan Meiburg is there and all over this thing, but otherwise the band is now an independent indie-rock outfit whose fan-base stretches beyond Okkervil followers.

As expected, Shearwater don’t do anything new (or wrong) here. Animal Joy is your superior indie-folk, inspired but also calculated. Which you will not at all mind on the album’s excellent opener, “Animal Life”, its gorgeous melody and lovely buildup clearly pointing to what could well be the perfect follow-up to 2008’s Rook. Meaning exactly the same thing – but with guts. The next few tracks are almost as good (which is: better than I Am Very Far), but the beautiful boredom that sets in with track 5, “Insolence”, can hardly be salvaged by Meiburg’s heartfelt voice and immaculate production. Side two is more of the same. Thoughtfully smooth, rough, then smooth again, with the exquisite anthemic drama of “Run The Banner Down” being the standout.

However, for all the criticism Animal Joy might be my favourite Shearwater album. I’ve already mentioned this numerous times, but whenever I listen to an Okkervil River record, I always feel there’s still lots of room for improvements. Songs could be sharper or at the very least catchier. Interestingly, in terms of songwriting, production and arrangements Animal Joy seems like the best thing Shearwater could do. Which is decent, beautiful, even impressive in its own way, but in the large scheme of things – not much.

So the bottom line doesn’t change: Meiburg is not a great songwriter. However, that’s not to say he can’t come up with a great song. Sign of times, I guess.

7/10

Album review: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN - Wrecking Ball

Highlights: We Take Care Of Our Own, Wrecking Ball

In all honesty I shouldn’t be reviewing a new Bruce Springsteen album in the first place. I’m a devout Springsteen agnostic, and, a couple notable exceptions aside (The Wild, The Innocent…; Darkness On The Edge Of Town; an odd song here and there), his working class songwriting has always left me cold. I don’t really actively dislike the man (though stuff like Born In The USA is actually awful – five seconds of the synth riff of “Glory Days” can make your IQ shrink considerably), but there’s something you can’t salvage with passion and dedication. Still, I decided to give Wrecking Ball a try. It’s okay.

The reviews are glowing, of course. In Springsteen’s case they always are. And yet after track eight I felt exhausted (I wanted to say ‘bored’, but let us not be cruel), and titles like “Rocky Ground” and “Land Of Hope And Dreams” still lay ahead of me…

Each song has its direct prototype in Springsteen’s back catalogue. There’s a new “Born In The USA” here. A new “Thunder Road”. A new “Atlantic City”. Not necessarily a bad thing. The problem is that for all its surprising diversity (we even have some Irish overtones) the songwriting lacks a spark (I wouldn’t say subtlety – he never had any). It’s masterfully grinded out – or that’s the feeling I get. Still, Wrecking Ball is packed with that unwavering (if generic) anthemic power that can come off both effective and affecting. Almost against all odds the familiar overblown drama of tracks like the opening “We Take Care Of Our Own” and particularly the title track provides a punch you can’t resist. Plus, the 6-minute “Jack Of All Trades” is a nice’n’bluesy piano ballad – though on occasion Springsteen’s obvious lack of lyrical wit may render it monotonous. The rest is quite good, but desperately unspectacular. Okay, so “Shackled And Drawn” is catchy and dumb – still, I’d rather re-listen to “Hungry Heart”, thank you very much. In its defense, the album’s lone true disaster is the preachy and bloodless “Rocky Road”; as if the annoying backing vocals were not enough, the rapping section is just fucking disgraceful.

It’s quite good at places, and the amount of work and love Bruce puts into his music cannot be denied, but this has long turned into a parody. I can give you the song titles of his next album right now, as well as a critical review of it. But of course: a fan can trick himself into anything. Still, I insist that every critic who gave Wrecking Ball 5/5, 9/10, 10/10, etc. should stop embarrassing himself and take up another job. Because this is getting pathetic. A low six.

6/10

Book review: PULSE (2011) by Julian Barnes

Literature can offer very few thrills that can beat a good short story collection. A short story is about being sharp and specific. Sometimes a short story is the best way an author can assert his artistic powers (John Updike), sometimes it’s the only way (Raymond Carver). And sometimes we are talking about collections like Dubliners, Heavy Water & Other Stories, May We Borrow Your Husband?, etc. These offer a new, different, exciting angle on the greatness of their author. It’s to this latter category that Pulse belongs.

Pulse was published last year, which makes it two classic books in the course of one year for Julian Barnes. The other of course being his masterful Booker Prize-winning novel A Sense Of An Ending.

Pulse (which collects the most recent of Barnes’ short fiction) is the writer’s third short story collection. And if there’s something that distinguishes it from 1996’s brilliant Cross Channel, it’s a sense of overwhelming, occasionally almost desperate maturity. Maturity that tends to be a trap for the book’s characters, and so rarely an asset. We’ve got sad old ladies not realizing how sad they are, we’ve got people waking up to the world’s commanding cruelty, we’ve got marriages broken or doomed (sometimes, ironically, doomed to longevity).

The collection is divided into two parts. The first one has to be my favourite, not least because it contains these four witty, upbeat conversations, breathers to brighten things up a bit. They are called “At Phil & Joanna’s” and feature a group of house guests discussing random topics – from sex to politics to philosophy. It’s amusing, and is brimming with ‘spontaneous’ aphoristic delights, and overall is a welcome refreshment amid densely depressing stories like “Marriage Lines” and “East Wind”. These are populated by restless people, haunting pasts and haunted memories. The Chekhovian “Marriage Lines”, for instance, tells of a man trying to make peace with the loss of his wife by going to a remote Scottish island they had both visited together numerous times. Reliving the memories to try to let go of the past and the gruesome, suffocating feeling of grief and dismay. These stories tickle you with senses, emotions – they rarely have much of a plot.  

The second part is not necessarily weaker – it’s different. While the title story and “Complicity” are more of what we have already seen in the first part, stories like “The Limner” and “Harmony” are set in older times. The former is about a portrait-painter who can’t hear, and the latter is about a young piano player who can’t see. It’s interesting that this way or another this second part of the collection revolves around human senses. We’ve got wine tasting in “Carcassonne”, we’ve got the importance of touching in “Complicity”, we’ve got smelling problems in “Pulse”. Coupled with the memories of the first part, Pulse masterfully presents a full, compelling picture of a man’s universe. And, to paraphrase one of the book’s best lines, sometimes life’s clichés are literature’s astonishments.  

Pulse is a bit like A Sense Of An Ending broken into pieces. With perhaps a little more humour thrown in. Written in Barnes’ exquisite yet practical style, Pulse is very adult entertainment – but that does not necessarily mean that I stress the first word. It’s both.

8/10

SONG OF THE WEEK #48: Peter Perrett - "Woke Up Sticky"

They say a new album by The Only Ones will be released some day soon, but I almost don't believe that anymore. The Only Ones were like a more melodic version of The Adverts or like a less punkish take on The Buzzcocks. Terrific pop-punk/power-pop hooks and Peter Perrett's resonant, slightly whimsical vocals. Sadly, the discography isn't too huge: we only have two classic late-70's albums (plus one mediocre 1980 one), and Perrett's brilliant, unjustly forgotten solo release, Woke Up Sticky (1996). Which, in addition to the irresistible "Falling" (which could easily rival "Another Girl, Another Planet"), features this soulful tale of alien abduction. Or was that a wet dream?..

Album review: THE DOOZER - Keep It Together

Highlights: Burning Bright, The Island

The comparisons are inevitable. The Doozer’s Keep It Together sounds like Syd Barrett who’s never heard of LSD. Now that I’m considering this, there’s no question that the idea seems enticing. Less maddening but just as charming, whimsical and maybe even a little odd. Well, yes, but that way you also have to do away with Barrett’s charisma. Which is exactly what made stuff like “Octopus” or “Matilda Mother” so good and so unique.

That said, there’s no reason why one shouldn’t enjoy Keep It Together for what it is. Lovely little acoustic melodies livened by an occasional cello, sitar, trumpet. Very simple but tasteful arrangements, cozy atmosphere of light psychedelic haze. Sadly, even with a gun to my head I would not be able to say anything specific about these songs. They are all catchy, I guess, but with so little variation and personality they sort of merge one with another. In fact, the only song that sticks out of this set is the five-minute epic called “The Island” that features beautiful melancholic piano and a welcome sense of mystery. The rest is much less remarkable. No, the edge is there, I guess, but by the end of the record you’ll have to wonder whether this is not because of the fact that the singer’s Simon Loynes’ vocals sound exactly like Syd Barrett’s.

What’s there to add? Well, nothing, except that at moments the melody of “Fen Drayton” is so just like that song from The Madcap Laughs it seems almost too much. 

Good but underwhelming.

6/10