Mist King Urth
(2003, Fading Captain Series)
Welcome
to 2003's meeting of the minds, as Robert Pollard joined forces with
then GBV lead guitarist Doug Gillard to form the
side-project Lifeguards. In typical side-band fashion,
Pollard provided vocal melodies, song titles, and lyrics.
Gillard played everything himself before sending it over to Pollard.
The LP mixing bowl full of proggy, art-damaged, arena rock that
has the misfortune of containing 3 whole instrumental tracks on an 11
song LP.
This
was Lifeguards only release until the moniker was dusted off and the
pairing released their follow-up LP, 2011's Waving
At The Astronauts.
Side
A:
Gift
of the Mountain-
1 Repetitive
duel guitar instrumental that plays out for a minute and half, and
sounds like a Doritos Xtreme commercial or an ad for no-holds-bared mountain biking.
Starts
at the River- 2 Pollard
does his best here to present his best frail old lady impersonation. Vocals
are way too high in the mix over Gillard’s simple drum stomping and
ripping guitar antics. Fairly decent melody and all, but uneven (and
unmixed) in its delivery.
First
of an Early Go-Getter- 3 The opening section is great, if you're a reflective serial killer who likes Casio drones. Then, sounds like a
plodding Elton John anthem. Has the potential to feel nauseating but effectively moody, and bizarre. Nifty Jethro Tull-like interludes in there too. Sucking in the ‘70s, Gillard/Pollard
style.
Society
Dome- 4 Folk
tune for the mystics. Elfin and bouncy in its light approach.
The catchiest of the early batch. Middle-urth,
Renaissance, festival pop.
Shorter
Virgins- 1 Gillard
sounds like he’s auditioning for an NES video game soundtrack about
California side-walk surfing in the ‘80s. It is rumored, when a cold chill runs down your spine, this song is playing somewhere on planet urth.
No
Chain Breaking- 1 The
long one to end side A. The first half of the song is
late-period GBV, high-end guitar grazing, and easy listening style
Pollard vocals. Drums finally lightly kick in but you’ll
probably only notice it if you’re still awake. A moody, oddly
arranged song. Pollard also seems to have difficulty
matching up the vocals here. An exercise in boredom.
Side B:
Sea
of Dead- 3 2nd
instrumental of the 11 song album. Don’t want to overexert
those vocal chords, huh Pollard? Unlike “Gift of the
Mountain,” “Sea of Dead” provides some interesting bendy guitar riffs that boarder walk a thin line between silly and psych. Moody, strange,
and nightmarishly fun.
Surgeon
Is Complete- 3 Mash
up of some Zeppelin riffage and grunge. “Take it out now, take it
out…” sounds like a repetitive Nirvana line, but the song is just samey enough to miss being worthwhile.
Then
We Agree- 2 Guitar
tone comparable to a kid's guitar played out of a beginner amp, which
gives the pretty killer overcast feel. Still, the song itself is pretty
dull. As a wise man never said, can't win points on simply feeling sullen.
Fether
Herd-
1 Instrumental
number 3 of the record! This is a fun syncopated, never ending
drum fill played on toms and snare, with a couple of recorders being
played over it. Bizarre filler. Maybe good for a soundtrack,
but highly worthless in the context of an LP.
Red
Whips and Miracles- 4 Grab
my slippers, I’m gonna be here a while. At over 8 minutes, this is
quite a closer. Piano and steady bass keep the song pretty
poppy with the most solid Pollard vocal performance of the LP. Great
jangly guitar riff pops in part way through. Goes through
moody twists and turns, all while the ‘70s popped-up piano keeps
poppin’ away its dandy POP before fading into solo balladry land. Oh yea, Pollard
disappears somewhere around the 3 minute mark, but no matter. Interesting, and
enjoyable lengthy closer.
love Red Whips and Miracles. Great song.
ReplyDeletelistening to this right now. very odd, very good album. wish Pollard would record more interesting experiments like this.
ReplyDeleteI love No Chain Breaking. I think it's a really underrated album in general.
ReplyDelete