GutterPutter

Dream pop always seem like it’s a hard genre to knock out of the park when we’re thinking about now. Since the advent of Beach House’s Teen Dreams in 2010, a lot of the records try to follow the footsteps of the duo’s gentle singing voice and an interest in reverberation as an echoing effect. One of the bands that makes me think about the comparison is Widowspeak; the brainchild of friends Molly Hamilton and Robert Earl Thomas whose musicianship would lean towards alt-country & Slowdive-esque shoegaze. Their most recent release, The Jacket, is said to be a concept album which revolves around the work conditions, & self-destruction, of a fictional band through the relationship between the narrator & their love interest. There’s a metanarrative approach in a way, & there could be something that must be said about life as an indie artist in America.  

The album, in following the footsteps of its influence with a twist on twinkly country arpeggio, falls flat on its face in trying to portray the bitterness of life as a musician. However gentle & soothing the guitar playing is as noted in ‘True Blue’, ‘Salt’, or ‘Slow Dance’, I genuinely can’t find myself feel immersed in the original intention of the album. The production is admirable with all its layering and cleanliness of the music that’s been played, but when you think about the spasmic keyboard that dips in & out of ‘While You Wait’, or the dull electric strums of the titular track, it doesn’t offer much in blocking out the lack of enthusiasm. The vocal performance is nice & hushed, but that’s it for the compliment as ‘Slow Dance’ sees the singing come off as being unenthusiastic to the point of boredom – & it’s not the kind of boredom that has its own charm like the National’s Matt Berninger. 

Given the premise, maybe that’s the point, there’s not a whole load of gold to be found in a group of artists who are not signed to the likes of Universal Music Group or Warner Music Group. That doesn’t mean that the craftmanship of the record is to be accepted for what it is. Because there’s an underlying problem that makes the album experience murky as to say.  

Being a concept album that fixates on broken relationships, the weariness of touring, and the difficulties of being an indie artist, there isn’t much to empathise with. For a record that focuses on how ‘reunions always breed reflection’, the album ironically doesn’t feel like there’s a lot of depth in introspection or thinking. Lyrically speaking, so much of the album doesn’t feel like they talk specifically about the band, but rather investigates the couple’s disintegration which wastes away any form of commentary on the music industry. ‘Unwind’, as one example, feels like a weary ballad that doesn’t even supply an ounce of different expression on what it feels to be in love. ‘Salt’ looks to be on the verge of a long-term relationship which feels weird once you consider the premise which makes the track ordering weird.  

‘Everything is Simple’ & ‘The Drive’ feels like a diptych for co-dependency, yet the writing doesn’t enable us to notice the issue with this kind of relationship. Instead, the lyricism is riddled with overly simplistic rhymes and pedestrian-to-a-fault lines. “You could never really be/ What you never really wanted to be” from the latter track is just mediocre as a line that attempts to be profound or even catchy, but the overt childlike presentation puts a full stop to the emotional resonance. Any attempt to come off as being poetic in ‘Forget It’ doesn’t appear to work out all that well as the ruminations of loneliness fails to pierce through the shoddy writing. ‘Sleeper’ just feels like an inappropriately suitable name for the outro as the organ dampens down the sense of closure amid the inevitable separation to the point of forgetting.  

Once again, if we were to base the lack of conceptual focus off from what the band describes the album as, the looseness ensures that there isn’t anything too deep to the point of pretension. Maybe it’s the desire to make the record accessible which presents another issue with the album as it feels like the band had sacrificed the artistic potential out of fear that it’ll be ignored by others. Since we’re talking about an indie band, maybe a bit of a gamble is not too much of a problem in this scenario. 

The Jacket doesn’t just fail to nail down the dread & fears of working as an underground artist, but it does not even present a convincing narrative on the crumbling love affair. The biggest highlights for me are the instrumental ability. You can hear the twangy guitar interplay and the militant kind of drumming that doesn’t detract from the vague narrative (which I wish to be honest). Is it an admirable piece of work? Admittedly so given the certain shine given to the record. However, it’s mostly best listened to by a couple of indie/dream pop fans who doesn’t mind some easy listening. Otherwise, don’t dive too deep into the hype or else you might find it to be too dull an experience.