As the year begins to wind down, we still have a few notable albums we need to address. Today's pair come with a theme; disappointment.
Steven Wilson - Requiem For A Village
Over the course of his solo career, Steven Wilson has been experimental in the most frustrating way. From album to album, he switches sounds and genres not in a way that feels like a consistent evolution of taste, but in a way that feels like a contrived attempt to avoid making the same record twice. While that might be good for the artistic soul, it hasn't led to positive results. After "The Raven That Refused To Sing" made a splash for being retro-prog of the most retro, Steven has been trying his hand at classicist pop, and gimmicks he cannot pull off. Every album has a story, but those stories paint him into corners he isn't a good enough songwriter to work out from.
That reaches a nadir on this record, which is easily the worst thing he has ever recorded. I have not been a fan of his 'pop' songwriting, mostly because none of it seemed hooky or memorable in the slightest, this foray into minimalist drone is an album where songwriting isn't even a concern. These songs unfold slowly on quiet sonic textures, never building to anything that gives us a catharsis, or a reason to keep listening. Steven talks through some of the lyrics, while other songs spent what feels like an eternity to get anywhere at all. It adds up to a record that feels like what you should be listening to as you walk through a museum.
That's not a compliment about art, by the way. It's a statement that this record is so devoid of compelling ideas that it makes background noise for when your mind is otherwise occupied. This is the kind of album you can zone out while listening to, realize what happened, and not care because the idea you're hearing now is no better or important than the last one you remember. Steven Wilson has a reputation as a master producer, with a second career remixing old albums people love more than the ones he makes himself. Maybe there are some pretty sounds here, but that doesn't matter in the slightest when you don't want to listen to them. That's what this album brings to mind; avoidance.
Spanish Love Songs - Future Nausea
After "Brave Faces Everyone" became one of the defining albums of recent years (as much as anything can when only the smallest minority hears any particular record), Spanish Love Songs immediately took a wild careening turn into glossy 80s indie rock, which did not at all fit with the aesthetic they had become known for, not the talents they possess as a band. In particular, that record lived and died on the weakest part of Dylan Slocum's range. I struggled to understand why they made the choices they did, and perhaps they did as well, as this record (or maybe the politics of the time) shift things back toward their self-righteous anger a bit.
This is not a full return-to-form, though. The band never roars with the same heft and power, but they do play with more passion. They still prefer indie tones, but things don't have an artificial gloss anymore than reveals how hollow the underlying body is. "Good American" pulls the old threads, taking to task what it means to be the titular type of person in the current day and expectations. This is a record once again about not seeing a better future for ourselves, but rather than raging against the inevitability of misery, this album sounds like the band is trying to throw a dance party at the bonfire of our dreams.
There are bits of The Smiths and that scene to be heard in the jangle of the guitars, and Dylan's preference to avoid big melodies while he preaches. It works... but not as well as when he was venting the anger of an entire generation. We are now post-cynicism, which comes with just enough detachment that the soundtrack is more of a trifle than a declaration of war. All of that is to say this album is definitely an improvement over "No Joy", it's still a far cry from what "Brave Faces Everyone" did for us. I don't even relate to most of the storytelling on that record, but the mere energy was enough to crush us. They aren't even trying to do that anymore, and that's a shame.
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