Skelliconnection
Chad VanGaalen
(Sub Pop)
In his Ars Poetica (The Art of Poetry), the Roman poet Horace recommended a technique which many a modern-day teacher would also suggest for beginning writers: a grace period before public release, wherein the poet's work is cultivated, allowed to settle, and shared only with mentors and close confidants in the interim. Unlike modern techniques of "letting it sit," however, Horace's program wasn't a matter of days, weeks or even months. "Let them not come forth," he wrote, "Till the ninth ripening year mature their worth. You may correct what in your closet lies / If published, it irrevocably flies."
Take a look at the mountains of lousy, underwritten poetry (or, for that matter, rushed, middling rock albums) released in the 2000 years since Ars Poetica, and it's immediately apparent that Horace had a point; but when a Canadian singer-songwriter named Chad VanGaalen released his 2004 "debut record" Infiniheart, it seemed as though the young upstart was taking the old codger's advice a mite too literally. Less a proper LP than a compilation of (you guessed it) ten years' worth of private home recordings, Infiniheart had all the joy of discovery one finds in a really great mixtape, but little of the cohesion or flow one expects from a professionally released album. Sure, its wildly varied 16 tracks at their best felt like the tip of a truly unique musical iceberg, but at their worst, they felt exactly like what they were: samples, drawn almost at random from a decade-long discography, never intended for public consumption. And as much as I loved it for the odd little gem that it was, even I had to ask myself, does Chad VanGaalen's unique artistic approach really come out of Horacean self-isolation, or would he get even better if somebody gave him a kick in the ass and made him deliver a follow-up?
The answer, if you haven't already guessed, is decidedly the latter. Released a mere two years after Infiniheart (or just one, if you hopped on the bandwagon after last year's Sub Pop reissue like I did), Skelliconnection must have felt like the equivalent of a rush-recorded cash-in to a bedroom craftsman as solitary and meticulous as VanGaalen. Fortunately, though, urgency suits him - a fact which becomes immediately apparent once excellent opening track "Flower Gardens" takes shape out of electric keyboard blips into a crunchy, driving hard rock riff. Yes, you read that correctly...two years on the road have put some color into Chad's pale Canadian flesh, and this time he's coming out rocking. But before you worry that our indie underdog has gone all Comets on Fire on us, take heart: from its icy electronic/warm acoustic textural dichotomies to its impressive 15-track sprawl, Skelliconnection is every bit the endearing, freakishly beautiful oddity its predescessor was; just tighter, better-executed, and more cohesive in every way.
As a songwriter, VanGaalen is still the same idiosyncratic mix of Franz Kafka and a seven-year-old, equal parts childlike wonder and detached, alien unease. But this time, song for song, his work has the substance to support his persona: the eerie narrative of "See-Thru Skin" (which is about exactly what the title suggests) is certainly bizarre, but its underlying sense of innocence and discovery is enough to make anybody relate, regardless of your feelings on the visibility of your veins or the expansion and contraction of your lungs. VanGaalen the performer, too, has grown immeasurably since last we met, steadily developing his own voice on an album whose fast-paced numbers ("Burn 2 Ash") sound less and less like the Arcade Fire. And as for those Neil Young comparisons, while they're not entirely avoidable, at least this time they're well-earned; just listen to "Mini T.V.'s," where VanGaalen is an absolutely magnificent dead ringer for the Shakey one, from the descending chord sequence to that broken, quavering falsetto.
Finally, let's not forget about VanGaalen the arranger, who blends cold, Gary Numanesque cityscapes with organic indie-pop vocals better than anybody named Gibbard or Tamborello on "Red Hot Drops." And for those who like the complete package, it all comes together wonderfully - writing, performance, and production - on the climactic "Dead Ends," a gorgeous, epic pop song about love gone bad with a chorus that makes the singer scale some startlingly passionate heights, pitched somewhere between Ryan Adams and Bono (!). All in all, it might just be the best moment of what might just be the best record of 2006 so far.
Indeed, the only disheartening thing about Skelliconnection is the sense one gets that Chad VanGaalen will be as reluctant as ever to pursue his muse where he ought to. Recent interviews have seen him suggesting that his latest work is "overproduced," that he'd rather go back to the sprawling instrumental compositions he did before Ian Russell of Flemish Eye Records coerced him into putting out Infiniheart, and in general that he's more interested in getting high, playing with keyboards and toying with the idea of a hip-hop record than continuing in this direction. And as funny as the idea of a stoned Chad VanGaalen busting rhymes over improvised electronics sounds, I have to say, this is one listener who'd rather keep hearing wonderful records like this one than craftless, underwritten "experimentation." So Chad, maybe Horace was right after all: you can write those epic instrumentals. You can even record that hip-hop album. But do us a favor, and keep 'em to yourself until you can come up with something that matches Skelliconnection. Even if it takes ten years.
Official Site (MySpace)
Buy It on Amazon
See Also: an indie singer-songwriter I'd really like to see release a hip-hop album.
(Sub Pop)
In his Ars Poetica (The Art of Poetry), the Roman poet Horace recommended a technique which many a modern-day teacher would also suggest for beginning writers: a grace period before public release, wherein the poet's work is cultivated, allowed to settle, and shared only with mentors and close confidants in the interim. Unlike modern techniques of "letting it sit," however, Horace's program wasn't a matter of days, weeks or even months. "Let them not come forth," he wrote, "Till the ninth ripening year mature their worth. You may correct what in your closet lies / If published, it irrevocably flies."Take a look at the mountains of lousy, underwritten poetry (or, for that matter, rushed, middling rock albums) released in the 2000 years since Ars Poetica, and it's immediately apparent that Horace had a point; but when a Canadian singer-songwriter named Chad VanGaalen released his 2004 "debut record" Infiniheart, it seemed as though the young upstart was taking the old codger's advice a mite too literally. Less a proper LP than a compilation of (you guessed it) ten years' worth of private home recordings, Infiniheart had all the joy of discovery one finds in a really great mixtape, but little of the cohesion or flow one expects from a professionally released album. Sure, its wildly varied 16 tracks at their best felt like the tip of a truly unique musical iceberg, but at their worst, they felt exactly like what they were: samples, drawn almost at random from a decade-long discography, never intended for public consumption. And as much as I loved it for the odd little gem that it was, even I had to ask myself, does Chad VanGaalen's unique artistic approach really come out of Horacean self-isolation, or would he get even better if somebody gave him a kick in the ass and made him deliver a follow-up?
The answer, if you haven't already guessed, is decidedly the latter. Released a mere two years after Infiniheart (or just one, if you hopped on the bandwagon after last year's Sub Pop reissue like I did), Skelliconnection must have felt like the equivalent of a rush-recorded cash-in to a bedroom craftsman as solitary and meticulous as VanGaalen. Fortunately, though, urgency suits him - a fact which becomes immediately apparent once excellent opening track "Flower Gardens" takes shape out of electric keyboard blips into a crunchy, driving hard rock riff. Yes, you read that correctly...two years on the road have put some color into Chad's pale Canadian flesh, and this time he's coming out rocking. But before you worry that our indie underdog has gone all Comets on Fire on us, take heart: from its icy electronic/warm acoustic textural dichotomies to its impressive 15-track sprawl, Skelliconnection is every bit the endearing, freakishly beautiful oddity its predescessor was; just tighter, better-executed, and more cohesive in every way.
As a songwriter, VanGaalen is still the same idiosyncratic mix of Franz Kafka and a seven-year-old, equal parts childlike wonder and detached, alien unease. But this time, song for song, his work has the substance to support his persona: the eerie narrative of "See-Thru Skin" (which is about exactly what the title suggests) is certainly bizarre, but its underlying sense of innocence and discovery is enough to make anybody relate, regardless of your feelings on the visibility of your veins or the expansion and contraction of your lungs. VanGaalen the performer, too, has grown immeasurably since last we met, steadily developing his own voice on an album whose fast-paced numbers ("Burn 2 Ash") sound less and less like the Arcade Fire. And as for those Neil Young comparisons, while they're not entirely avoidable, at least this time they're well-earned; just listen to "Mini T.V.'s," where VanGaalen is an absolutely magnificent dead ringer for the Shakey one, from the descending chord sequence to that broken, quavering falsetto.
Finally, let's not forget about VanGaalen the arranger, who blends cold, Gary Numanesque cityscapes with organic indie-pop vocals better than anybody named Gibbard or Tamborello on "Red Hot Drops." And for those who like the complete package, it all comes together wonderfully - writing, performance, and production - on the climactic "Dead Ends," a gorgeous, epic pop song about love gone bad with a chorus that makes the singer scale some startlingly passionate heights, pitched somewhere between Ryan Adams and Bono (!). All in all, it might just be the best moment of what might just be the best record of 2006 so far.
Indeed, the only disheartening thing about Skelliconnection is the sense one gets that Chad VanGaalen will be as reluctant as ever to pursue his muse where he ought to. Recent interviews have seen him suggesting that his latest work is "overproduced," that he'd rather go back to the sprawling instrumental compositions he did before Ian Russell of Flemish Eye Records coerced him into putting out Infiniheart, and in general that he's more interested in getting high, playing with keyboards and toying with the idea of a hip-hop record than continuing in this direction. And as funny as the idea of a stoned Chad VanGaalen busting rhymes over improvised electronics sounds, I have to say, this is one listener who'd rather keep hearing wonderful records like this one than craftless, underwritten "experimentation." So Chad, maybe Horace was right after all: you can write those epic instrumentals. You can even record that hip-hop album. But do us a favor, and keep 'em to yourself until you can come up with something that matches Skelliconnection. Even if it takes ten years.
Official Site (MySpace)
Buy It on Amazon
See Also: an indie singer-songwriter I'd really like to see release a hip-hop album.
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