Spiral Stairs is the pseudonym moniker of Pavement guitarist Scott Kannberg. This is first recording under that pseudonym, however. Just in time to throw on the Pavement reunion shows merch table. Good for him.But Scott, a self-described fan of The Velvet Underground and Echo & The Bunnymen, Scott is completely devoid of those influences here. What he comes off recording is some mix of up-tempo strutting type of Nick Cave sounding stuff and some other far more breezy and relaxed California dreams. Not Christopher Cross, mind you, this is still indie rock, but you get the point. And if any other reviews mention something "Beach Boys"-ish, pay it no mind. They're simply referring to the off opportunities for some vocal harmony lines here and there.
For the best examples of the breezy, steel-guitar fueled stuff, hit up "Call The Ceasefire", "Cold Change" and "A Mighty Mighty Fall".
While none of the songs are what you would call "jammy", I still found them too long. Even at 5-6 minutes, there is simply too many times that there is an additional minute of each song where there's no soloing, no changes, just Scott maintaining the same chord structure in between verses for no seeming apparent reason. The chord is simply a vehicle to get your song moving, no need to spotlight it. "Blood Money" is a fine Wilco-style ballad, but make me producer, I'll cut your eight minutes to four without removing a verse.
My favorite of the bunch avoids most of the trappings from above and provides the best title of the group, too. I don't know if "Subiaco Shuffle" refers to Australia, Italy or Arkansas but I do know that along with the downright Frank-Black-punky "Stolen Pills", it's the best stomper in this otherwise placid collection.
The Pills video is included below, and it's great, but completely uncharacteristic of the rest of the record. In the end, there wasn't enough that felt real (see how i tied that back to the title?) in this collection to keep me coming back for more. (1.5 of 5 stars)
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