On paper, there's a lot of things to like here: hitched, jazzy delivery, non-traditional rock instrumentation, upright bass, proggy structures, angular chords, clever lyrics. At its best it evokes funky-arty folks like Buke and Gass, Bjork and the overall Spongebath sound (especially Fluid Ounces), and not as much bluegrass influence as you might expect given Thile's Nickel Creek origins (a band I'll confess I have only a passing familiarity with).
The problem lies with Thile himself, who by all accounts is very talented and probably very popular with impressionable young girls who are just discovering interesting music, but is just some kind of insufferable. I'm sure he's a nice guy, but his delivery is all John Mayer and Nickleback, clever and big in pop ways that are just too transparent to be cool.
Woah, hold on now there, you say. Why's it gotta be cool? Aren't we post-cool round these parts?
My motto lately is that listening to music involves a fantasy of being in the band: if you wouldn't want to be in a band with these people, you probably won't connect with listening to their music on a visceral, emotional level. I don't even really want this guy over to my house, at least not if he's going to sing. He's got talent, but his style doesn't connect with mine, and I don't really want to listen to it.
The whole thing is funky, but in a look-how-funky Jamiroquai kind of way that I'm just to old for.
Fine for the ladies, but I'm too old and stodgy for this kind of clever footwork 2/5
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment