Hey readers,
I recently moved to Northwest Montana, where I will work on a conservation crew for 6 months. I don’t have much internet access anymore (outside of public libraries and cafes) nor am I anywhere near a city that draws in shows.
The reality is that I won’t have much time or energy to devote to listening to newer music or shooting shows and doing write-ups. I won’t even have much time to rhapsodize on topics, as I have occasionally ventured to do.
So I’m taking at least 6 months away from this to attend to the program I have committed to, where I will be working long days outdoors doing physical labor. If you’d like to follow those adventures, check out the Montana Wildhack Postcard Club.
The triangle is now complete! I have seen all three currently active Deerhunter and Deerhunter-related projects. I didn’t expect for Lotus Plaza to be the most thrilling show ever, but the onset of a cold after a long day of work made for a relaxing evening with Lockett Pundt and his backing ensemble. A sparser crowd–thanks to The Granada’s sold-out M83 show–made the evening even easier.
Despite a smaller crowd, there was still a decent showing for a Tuesday night gig. There were enough in attendance to make the room seem a little smaller, but not to feel crowded in the least. Plus, ample room for photographing is always a victory.
Solo man (and drummer for Lotus Plaza) Frankie Boyles took the stage first, heating up our ears with some easy guitar layers. He’s a strong singer with a case of Jim James (Ben Bridwell, Robin Pecknold) voice–a recurring theme of the openers. The guitar washes were nice and pleasant, but any and all canned beats were metronomic and forced, existing only so he could keep a steady tempo. For an act with such “pretty” guitar and vocals the one-two drum machine rhythms really turned it into an uncomfortable ugliness. This is probably the kind of music that shines most brilliantly on an album or in someone’s living room, but in a rock club it feels isolating and difficult to engage.
Caveman, a band I guess critics used to rave about, played second. they brought a palpable energy to the stage for the night, which was much needed between Boyles and Lotus Plaza. It wasn’t a great fit in the line-up, but still worthy of attention. The lead singer also had a raging case of Jim James (Ben Bridwell, Robin Pecknold) voice [he also reminded me of Ivan Dochenko from Eastbound and Down for some reason], but there was enough good instrumentation to keep you distracted. Their strong suit is percussion–with the front man taking on an additional floor tom to add some dynamism to the mix. Their best numbers featured him beating away, while their worst were when he manned a guitar instead.
Luckily for me, there would be a break from these poor men suffering from Jim James (Ben Bridwell, Robin Pecknold) voice (a growing plague in the “indie rock” world). I knew what to expect from Lotus Plaza–and they delivered well on the promised product. My main worry was that Lockett Pundt would be singing way off key the whole time, but despite recovering from a sore throat (they had to play an all-instrumental set in Dallas), he sounded good and steady. They ripped into “White Galactic One” to start off the set and jammed into transitions, sticking entirely to Spooky Action at a Distance. A broken string mid-way through the set didn’t seem to slow them down too much as the remaining band jammed their way through the scramble. I only have two complaints: 1) the keyboardist who seemed to only exist to push buttons on the sampler, but I guess someone’s gotta do that and 2) not a trace of “Monoliths.” But I did manage to leave the venue quite pleased (even if I forgot to pay my $8 bar tab [it’s taken care of now]). Despite a short set, it sounded good, even though they had some issues with vocals (classic Record Bar problem).
I managed to have a nice conversation with Lockett afterward while I was buying a record. He’s an avid CD collector (doesn’t care much for vinyl) and appears to have a pretty precise memory (at least of all the different venues and shows he’s played over the years), which I always appreciate. We also talked about Terminator 2 and how it’s the rare example of a sequel better than the original.
The first tease of Lower Dens’ sophomore full-length effort, Nootropics, was a promising single called “Brains.”
Powered by a gentle, mechanical drum beat and swarming guitars the androgynous voiced Jana Hunter (of whom I am a fan) “Brains” is a misty reverie. On the album it shows up second, following a drifty and lengthy album opener, “Alphabet Song.” But “Brains” serves the album well to pick up momentum in the spirit of Lower Dens’ first album, Twin Hand Movement. Unfortunately, that momentum gathers for nothing as much of the remainder of the album takes its time, forgetting the polite urgency established with the second track. However, it’s not a disappointing walkabout–it’s one full of interesting musical arrangements and Jana Hunter’s distinct voice (one I happen to like very very much).
Nootropics is a delicate album without edging into overly sensitive Beach House or Bright Eyes territory. Musically, it is complicated enough to keep a listener alert and attentive. However, instrumentation is precious and dreamy without cloying. The worst tendency of Nootropics is to slowly plod along without much dynamism to keep things interesting.
Once there was the promise of excitement with “Brains” and its follow-up track, “Stem.” But alas, any anticipation is thwarted for some calm albeit draggy songs like “Alphabet Song,” “Propagation,” (which is the musical equivalent of doing a striptease on Ambien) and “Nova Anthem.”
A bright spot towards the end comes with a two-parter. “Lion in Winter [pt 1 and pt 2]” start off with some swirly drones on the first track, then the second track dips into a synthy drum machine number that echoes Wet Hair a little bit. The two songs complement each other highlighting two opposing sides of the album’s best attributes–languorous swirling guitars and well-tempered synthesizers. When the two successfully merge, like “Brains,” Nootropics succeeds, but where they merely co-exist, like “The End Is The Beginning,” it’s a pretty–albeit dull–show of cool instrumentation but unthrilling execution.
Spiritualized has always posed a special problem for me: nothing will compare to the first song I ever heard of theirs–almost all following and preceding output pales in comparison to the first song off 2003’s Complete Works Vol. 1, “Anyway That You Want Me.” In many ways it was the right song at the right time, but I’m prone to like a song that focuses more on guitar-based rocking out than yanking my heart along with some strings, like a lot of his other output does.
So it is true that nothing will compare to the borderline spiritual experience of first hearing “Anyway that You Want Me” in an Eisenhower-era studio apartment, but I cannot pretend that this song does not exist. So somehow I must craft my review and reaction with the heavy sword of “Anyway that You Want Me” in my hands, because unfortunately, that has prevented me from ever getting really into Spiritualized or Spacemen 3.
Sweet Heart Sweet Light occasionally suffers from wedding syndrome, edging too bathetically cinematic with an overkill of strings because ISN’T LOVE THE FUCKING TITS, RIGHT? Unfortunately, this is a sentiment I’ve never fully embraced in any situation. “Too Late” is one such example of a song tenderized to near shapeless mush. Structurally, it’s a powerful song that appropriately cools and burns with special intensity added by the instrumental arrangement (though he did err on the side of horns rather than caution).
But “Too Late” is sandwiched between two of the sexier songs on the album, “Get What You Deserve” and “Heading for the Top,” which both feature chaotic arrangements that tickle my fancy, and are probably the two highlights of the album for me, despite “Hey Jane” being an obvious standalone single track (with a racy video to back it up).
Similarly tired as the saccharine paintings of love is the shallow melancholy of heartbreak depicted here with “Freedom,” “Mary,” and the prayer of death “Life is Problem.” (Though it’s highly debatable whether cliche is the language of breakups and songs related to that point of departure.) The album is front-loaded with the most exciting songs in the first half and the most forgettable tunes in the latter, though “So Long You Pretty Thing” begins as a lackluster mess before cleaning up to a grander closing complete with some choirs and stuff, going for a well-executed big moment to wrap up Sweet Heart Sweet Light.
What works best for Sweet Heart Sweet Light is how varied each of the compositions are while revolving around a very similar and relatable theme relevant to matters of the heart–love, breakup, etc. Unfortunately, I don’t really get the feeling that any kind of fresh poetry is being applied to the topic. To go back to the original problem, the way “Anyway You Want Me” addressed that kind of desperation to just be close to someone despite the other party’s uncertainty isn’t quite like other songs of similar theme. Poor cliche, playing with fire, getting burned, praying to jesus to die to never get hurt again.
My deepappreciationof (and occasionalfrustration with) Deerhunter and Deerhunter-related projects is well documented among the posts of Colossal Youth. Though a mere 3 years ago, 2009 seems like a faint fart in the wind from the distant perch of 2012. But the side projects of Deerhunter farted loudly and resonantly that year with frontman, Bradford Cox’s second, resplendent album, Logos, and the debut of Lockett Pundt’s Lotus Plaza project, The Twilight Collective. Last year saw the disappointing return of another pop-heavy Cox project (though many other Deerhunter celebrators reveled in its light). But Pundt has finally come into his own. The main complaint against The Floodlight Collective from many was the heavy hand of Cox’s influence on the album, but more and more Pundt is asserting his own voice and perspective as a songwriter and musician with Deerhunter and Spooky Action At a Distance, which is the best output I’ve heard from any Deerhunter member since 2009 and rivals Logos for my favorite non-Deerhunter Deerhunter album.
Lotus Plaza–the solo project of Deerhunter guitarist, Lockett Pundt–drops some of the haze (but thankfully only some) from his 2009 debut, the Floodlight Collective, in favor of catchier hooks, more prominent vocal lines,more live drums, and fewer loops. Songs are more structured and polished without being overwrought. Pundt’s voice has gotten stronger, more consistent and less dispassionate. Rather than singing lines like a nervous kid at a recital, the vocal phrasing takes on the character of someone singing alone in his bedroom hoping that no one is home.
The percussion choices on Spooky Action work for effectively creating a sense of urgency, drumming up excitement for soaring climaxes on many of the songs as demonstrated on “Out of Touch.” Use of more structured songwriting allows the soaring moments of Spooky Action at a Distance to have greater impact as the roaring guitar riffs of “White Galactic One” to pack a gnarly punch while multi-tracked stereo vocals feature prominently in the mix to build up to an excitingly dreamy climax on “Monoliths.”
For my ears, it doesn’t get better than the thrusting power of “Monoliths” driven by a persistent guitar loop and fairly straightforward drum part with several other guitars layered atop while melodicas sound out from the noisy fray. The album cools down with “Jets Out of the Tundra” followed by other, calmer songs that keep up the movement albeit at an easier pace to the sparser, acoustic finale, “Black Buzz.”
What truly makes Spooky Action at A Distance so stunning isn’t merely the heights it reaches, but the solid consistency of each song coming together to make a cohesive album. While each song stands strongly alone, put together they’re ordered to create a dynamic album experience from start to finish.
