It’s been said many times, but it bears repeating: John Vanderslice is probably the nicest guy in indie rock. I’ve had the opportunity to meet him a few times. At an Amoeba Records in-store in Hollywood, and at a couple Mountain Goats shows. It saddens me to say he hasn’t made a record that has truly blown me away since 2005’s Pixel Revolt.
I wanted to love 2007’s Emerald City. I really did. Earlier that year, in San Francisco, JV shushed me near the end of a Mountain Goats show (John Darnielle was doing his torch singer thing during “California Song,” which I had seen more than once) when I asked about the album. I was told it would be out near the end of summer, and was expecting great things when I eventually heard it. It wasn’t bad, just not very interesting. 2009’s Romanian Names was a marked improvement, but it still didn’t have the fire of earlier album such as Cellar Door or The Life and Death of an American Fourtracker.
So here we are, it’s 2011, I’ve lost most of my faith in JV, and we have White Wilderness. The press surrounding this album is quick to point out what isn’t actually immediately obvious. This album was recorded in three days, with The Magik*Magik Orchestra, a collective of classically trained musicians in the Bay Area led by artistic director Minna Choi. Vanderslice is known to spend long periods of time mixing, and tweaking his songs. The absence of that can be heard in one of the album’s best songs, “After It Ends”, but not many other songs. “After It Ends” is a pretty simple acoustic guitar number that contains some of the album’s best lyrics: “I’m so hungry/like I was just born/I’m still aching for life”. The song is haunting, and pretty great.
The other highlight of the album, for me, is “Convict Lake.” There is one moment that blew me away when I listened to it on headphones about 1:45 in. The song cuts away to just a string part, and an acoustic guitar playing in the right speaker. A few seconds later another acoustic lick plays twice in the left speaker, and the song kicks back in.
Ultimately, though, White Wilderness has the same problem Emerald City had: it’s just not very interesting. I appreciate the guy’s willingness to experiment, but can’t help wishing the results were more appealing. I hate to say it because Vanderslice has made some of my favorite records. He can do great stuff, but this is not. If you’re a fan, you already have this record. If you’re not I highly recommend you go pick up Cellar Door or Pixel Revolt instead.
Track listing:
1. Sea Salt
2. Convict Lake
3. White Wilderness
4. The Piano Lesson
5. After It Ends
6. Overcoat
7. Alemany Gap
8. English Vines
9. 20K
