Looks like Zack took my advice about cutting down from the fourteen tracks of Desolation Animals, because his new record only has five. It’s a little under twenty minutes long and he’s preparing to release the last unreleased single on Bandcamp; I bought a CD from him last December, which is my reference for this review. The first song “8-Track” has has been engineered to have the big dreamy Beach House sound, with lots of reverb on the trebly synths and huge spare drums, except that as a song it’s way better than anything on Depression Cherry, the only Beach House music I’ve listened to. I realized after a few plays-through that it sounds a lot like a Sgt. Pepper song, with rhythmic shifts between mid-tempo rock and the grinding-organ rhythm of the pre-chorus, and I think he’s been returning to the Beatles because he showed me a demo of a song titled “Mary Magdalene” with very Beatley vocal harmonies. The mix is a little more crowded, top- and bottom-heavy with frequencies than that of most “indie” “rock” I hear nowadays.
In fact classic sixties pop seems to be the main influence on this record, which pleases me enormously. I love how the early Stones are echoed in the clomp of “Say Hello,” and how the doubled (tripled? I can’t tell) guitars play counter-melodic riffs in “Tastes Like Peaches” just like Phil Spector might’ve done. I can get all the way behind this particular retro-ism, in which Zack cuts his style with the charmingly stiff forms of old chamber pop.
The harmonic vocabulary on many songs is all Zack — the seventh and sixth chords, the sharpened fourths and flatted sixths, the descending half-steps, yadda yadda. But some of the simple melodies don’t track exactly with that vocabulary — the stirring verses of “Say Hello” seem ever so slightly out of step with the chord progressions (the chorus is good, the bridge superb). A similar condition afflicts “Sweet Oblivion,” and while I really like the tunes of both songs they seem to clash ever so slightly with the relatively complex harmonies. (Of course this criticism is relative to the rest of the EP — both are still quality songs, and catchy.) Over time my favorite tracks have become “8-Track,” “Sunny Day” and “Tastes Like Peaches,” which have the simplest musical backing, because I appreciate what that simplicity enables: a more densely arranged musical setting, where Zack lets the track speak for itself and sings as part of the presentation. Compare: the forty seconds of droney ephemera at the beginning of “8-Track” aren’t very interesting, and probably seven or eight seconds would have served the same purpose; meanwhile, the distorted guitar that makes itself heard near the end of “Tastes Like Peaches” sounds like experimentation within the pop context, and it spices up the track by playing its weirdness against the predictability and formality of the other elements. “Tastes Like Peaches” and “8 Track” aren’t lunging for harmonic innovations without 和 (or graceful ease), and so they sound mature, they don’t trip over themselves.
The lyrical clichés are actually winning me over, and I’m easing into them like a well-worn sweatshirt. (He uses the “down the rabbit hole” trope again! In the first single! The audacity!) Maybe it’s just part of Zack’s style to sing them, but I wish the folk sayings communicated more folk knowledge. I recommend that he get a book of “wandering verses” and listen to the blues and country artists of the early twentieth century (John Hurt, Dave Macon, Skip James) to learn how to better deploy clichés.
He also hired a real L.A. backing band, made up of once-famous Nineties rockers: Pearl Jam’s first drummer Dave Krusen, guitar players from Puddle of Mudd (Matt Fuller) and Skillet (Kevin Haaland), and bassist Adam Kury, who played on Candlebox’s post-“Far Behind” albums. Not sure who backing vocalist Flora Winkler or the three “assistants” are, but I’m sure they contributed too.
P.S. I listened to Blow Off the Steam again and it’s better than I remember. Same with the folky songs on Desolation Animals. But I like this new turn in Zack’s music towards “tracks” and taking full advantage of the recording process, and I hope we hear more of it on the new album.
No Opinions Here 