Stevie is a member of Belle & Sebastian, a Scottish indie-pop group that I know by reputation without ever having listened to them. This is his first solo album. It runs the gamut of indie pop clichés. Very wordy, crisp-clean production, lots of references to other beloved musical memories and a strong influence of one of two classics. In Stevie's case, he is channeling the Beach Boys more often than not.In comparison, a similarly indie pop release from a few years ago by Canadian band Sloan chose the Beatles as their fave muse. If you're not reminiscing either of those two bands, then either you're not indie pop or, congratulations, you're not so cliché. I loved Sloan's record, even if it did feel like Abbey Road II, and was not as big a fan of this.
Most of it is Stevie's voice, which sounds like Glenn Tilbrook was trying to be especially overtly cutesy. Like he's doing an impression of a kid. That's a personal taste thing, but for this tight of a production where your vocals are so ahead of the mix, I would rather you have balls. "Try Me" is a great example of this. What could have been a raucous send up of Elvis Costello instead sounds too precious. Like the Wiggles were really letting loose.
Lyrically, Stevie is also entirely too cutesy. He includes two different songs about the teenage pitter-pat of the heart when deciding to express your feelings to a girl. One via telephone. The other via E-mail. And like I said, he throws out more references than Okkervil River or The Hold Steady on their best days. Shouting out the Beatles a couple of times, Love Unlimited, Gamble And Huff. Even the album title is a Rolling Stones quip.
The Beach-Boys-instrumentation efforts are actually the most valuable part of the record. Jackson can clearly construct a song. I just wish he'd have collaborated with a different singer-songwriter than doing his own album. (2 of 5 stars)
No comments:
Post a Comment