Three of the top indie albums this year have been disappointments. Not profound disappointment, just let downs.
My Morning Jacket's follow up to the masterful Evil Urges, TV On The Radio's follow up to the massive break through Dear Science, and bright Eyes eagerly awaited, years in gestation new album.
All three are fair to middling: TVOTR and BE are B+, MMJ a B. ON stage TVOTR and BE were alright, not great, MMJ were great.
These albums were the state of the indie art: major releases by major acts. But BE got tripped up by concept, and TVOTR and MMJ by understatement. The latter two didn't go far enough and the former too far. But none of them were acts of self destruction. And even within the confines of albums that don't make it as albums there were songs that make it all the way.
TVOTR "Keep Your Heart" is a non-experimental, non-ironic, straightforward rock ballad with glorious back up harmonies and a simply sentiment that is more prosetry than poetry. It works from its sincerity especially in the falsetto bridge and the descending 8 bar notes .
Much of MMJ's Circuital doesn't work even slightly for me, songs like the beloved "Holdin On to Blue Metal" and "Wonderful (The Way I Feel)" -really much of the album, leaves me icy. I don't dislike it but I don't really like it. "Circuital" is an ambitious song that I am sure is a riot live: it peaks and subsides like waves not like circles, but it reaches where it is going and it is successful though needed a tougher production.
Best of all is "Jejune Stars" . The People's Key is a consistently good song with several peaks and at least one unadulterated disaster, "One For You, One For Me". The problem here isn't the concept (though it isn't a winner either), it is that so many of the songs miss their mark. But "Haile Selasie" doesn't and neither does "Jejune Songs" -one of the best songs of the year.
Part of me thinks of these three, they have the ambition of musicians doing what they want and Conor can write songs, but the rest of me thinks, especially about Jim James, c'mon guy: get it right, already. you wanna be a fucking rock star, don't pussy out this early in your career.