BUILT TO SPILL: YOU IN REVERSE (2006)
1) Goin' Against Your Mind; 2)
Traces; 3) Liar; 4) Saturday; 5) Wherever You Go; 6) Conventional Wisdom; 7)
Gone; 8) Mess With Time; 9) Just A Habit; 10) The Wait.
Can I come out and say that You In Reverse is the best ever Built
To Spill album? No, that would be illogical and arbitrary. Besides, how can I
even begin to pronounce those kinds of judgement on a band that I do not
properly «get», whose music I have no deep feel for? And besides, how can a
band that is more than ten years into its musical career release a «best»
album? Surely that is downright impossible.
But let us just see what we can see about this,
on a track-by-track basis, just for the first several numbers. First, ʽGoin'
Against Your Mindʼ is fast. I think
it's faster than anything they played before, and it helps the sound — you
know, «alt-rock» in general, with its preference of mid- and slow tempos, tends
to wear you down, and this is oh so true of all preceding Built To Spill records.
So the song is almost nine minutes long, but who cares? It's an impressive
speed train, quieting down in the middle to let the drummer catch a breath,
only to explode into even more aggressive action towards the end. New guitarist
Jim Roth, turning the trio into a quartet, probably helps out, but it is
unclear if his presence is all that essential — Martsch is a master of
overdubbing, and the only reason to bring in an extra guitarist would be to
lend a more «live» aura to the proceedings. Hmm, maybe it actually works.
The second track, ʽTracesʼ, slows down the
tempo, although not quite to the standard creepy-crawly level of their classic
albums — more disturbing is the fact that it never changes the basic rhythm or
melodic pattern from start to finish, reflecting a «less challenging» attitude
towards songwriting on this record. But if it works, why not? Here, the band
establishes an unbreaking, monotonously pulsating melancholic vibe, out of
which eventually spirals a moody guitar solo that logically and unavoidably
winds itself up to hysterical heights without ever straying away from the
rhythmic restrictions of the main melody — simple, evocative, and efficient.
Nowhere near as intellectually challenging as ʽRandy Described Eternityʼ, for
sure. But somehow, a bit more human, the way I perceive it.
The basic formula will persist: song after song
after song, it is usually just one melody per unit (with the notable exception
of ʽMess With Timeʼ, which begins like an Oriental-influenced lite metal number
and ends like a hard-rock-meets-ska hybrid), and they consistently try to make
it simpler, more accessible, maybe even more commercial, but still with enough
taste and creativity, and with sufficiently convoluted lyrics that still seem
to deal with the meaning of life in their own twisted ways, so as not to
disappoint the demanding fan or the casual listener. Some of these songs, like
ʽConventional Wisdomʼ with its swirling colorful lead guitar, charging tempo,
and merry attitude, are fairly atypical for the band. Others, like the slow,
jangly, psycho-dreamy ʽJust A Habitʼ, are more predictable, but the one thing
that unites them all is this relative simplicity.
Oh, and another thing might be better
production: for some reason, now that they are no longer handled by Phil Ek in
the studio, Martsch's vocals suddenly become more upfront, and the songs in
general become much more influenced by their soulful, tender,
contemplative-Proustian vocalist; even if I am hardly his biggest fan, I must
say that now that he is no longer hidden behind the wall of guitars, but given
an equal voice with all of them, one major factor of irritation is gone, and
the album is generally easier to listen to. It has even got occasional moments
of conventional beauty (to which Built To Spill were never complete strangers —
remember ʽHazyʼ from the debut album? — but which was rarely a priority): ʽThe
Waitʼ, in particular, is a stately, somewhat angelic choice for the album
closer, with heavenly slide guitars, echoes, dreamy harmonies, and lyrics
that... well, apparently they imply that your entire life consists of nothing
but waiting. Yes, in a certain way I can see that. I can also see how it would
agree with Built To Spill's overall musical philosophy and its somewhat Taoist
overtones.
Although the qualitative gaps between all these
albums are really small, to the
extent that you will probably either love everything by the band, hate
everything by the band, or (like myself) respect everything by the band without
getting infected by it, I kinda sorta think of You In Reverse as a major turn. Better bands would lose out by
simplifying and streamlining their sound, but for Martsch and his pals it might
actually be a better bet to stay away from too much experimentalism and
esotericism, and concentrate on these «single-shot» songs that lock onto a
groove and ultimately, sooner or later, make it work, no matter how trivial or
boring it may have sounded during its first minute. A thumbs up, then, although do keep in
mind that for a band like this, it is much better to just apply one single
judgement to all the albums at the same time.
Even as someone who doesn't "get" BTS, you're right on track on this album. I'm a fan, and I rank it #2. This is surprising because of the suspiciously long gap between albums (never a good sign).
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