For many years now I've made it a mission to not slag independent releases when I review them. A lot of REAL blood, sweat and tears and most probably a considerable amount of personal debt goes into putting together 10 or 12 songs for a CD knowing very well it could take years to do it again based on the personal circumstances of most struggling artists. Ex-Huffamoose member Craig Elkins' latest release was treated with the same reverence. But after two listens to the entire 9 song collection I ejected the CD and tossed it into the back seat of my car. For the first time ever in my 40 years as a music afficionado an artist has triggered the one emotion I've NEVER experienced while listening to music: Anger. It pushed me way outside of my cushy comfort zone. I'm not sure if this was Elkins intent or whether I'm not the person that should be tuning in to his confessionals. To preface this you should know that there are no bad songs on the album. His musical approach is Memphis Alt-country created with the help of Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello), Charlie Gillingham & Dave Immergluck (Counting Crows), Neil Larsen (Leonard Cohen) and a huge team of other contributors. His voice shifts between an emotively over-the-top Adam Duritz or Barney Bentall ("Tell 'em My Story") to the more subdued and conversational Marc Cohn (on the album's best track "I Wanted To, But I Didn't"). But the album plays out like a movie monologue in a smoke-filled seedy hotel room with blacked out windows where a heroin addict is soliloquizing shortly before overdosing. And if you think I'm being harsh just check out the opening track "Offin' Myself" where he goes on about being a prick and he might just kill himself or the directly-to-the-point "I Can't Stop Being a Dick". Every song's a bigger downer than the last - and shifts thematically back and forth between SELF-loathing and PEOPLE loathing. Just check out the closing Randy Newman-like literal lyric acoustic dirge "Human Drag" - "Being a fucking human can be a really big fucking drag".
Even when Elkins' stream of consciousness observations are accompanied by a catchy chorus like "Most of the People" he's still presenting as skid row Emo boy: [Paraphrasing here cause there's no lyric sheet] "Most of the people that you see on the street or in the crowd or at the store/Some in the place in the space that you occupy are gonna die before you see them again". How uplifting. Sounds like Elkins is having a rough life or needs therapy or maybe just a hug. But as a recent comedian once said very succinctly - you know who cares about your problems more than you? Nobody. Some people write about their personal pain in a diary (or on Facebook or have the name Tom Waits). Elkins has committed it to a well produced CD. Jury's still out on whether that's brave or foolish. Maybe I'm missing the point of the whole thing because Elkins certainly has an audience - hell, his stuff has been used on the TV show "Sons of Anarchy" and even in commercials. Or maybe he's just putting us all on. After all, the album is ironically titled 'I Love You' and his tagline is 'Music For Real (Depressed) People'. Craig Elkins Website
If you get angry over depressing music, you must be depressed. Does Modest Mouse, Fiona Apple, Elliot Smith, Gustav Mahler, or Pink Floyd make you angry? To me, "Most of the people that you see on the street or in the crowd or at the store/Some in the place in the space that you occupy are gonna die before you see them again" is magical. Existentialist musings can indeed be uplifting if they're smart.
ReplyDelete"And when you get confused pretty girl
Take a second pretty girl
And think about how strange it is, that you're a human being
And you're wearing shoes and undergear
Your neighbor has an accent dear
And he's living on a planet
That is suppended in an atmosphere
Just take a second and maybe you will find
A little piece of mind."
Craig Elkins is one of the more insightful absurdists out there.
Oh man - was just reminded of this review on FB. Love it! So nice to get a reaction.
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