So Much Staying Alive and Lovelessness
Label: Jade Tree
Media: CD
Format: Album
WorkNameSort: So Much Staying Alive and Lovelessness
It’s confusing as to why this new Joan of Arc release isn’t touted under the Owls moniker. Three-fourths of this resurrected JOA lineup is also in Owls, and the instrumentation is basically the same (guitar, bass, vocals and drums), save for a violin here and a horn there. So why the delineation between the two? JOA was known for Tim Kinsella’s signature stream-of-consciousness vocal ramblings delivered over sprawling avant-garde, Atari-rock meanderings. And you came to expect the abstruseness and inconsistency of each successive JOA effort. But now the Kinsella Bros. and Co. have made JOA more straightforward and accessible, catchy even — just like Owls, albeit more subdued. The tracks “On a Bedsheet in the Breeze on a Roof,” “Participation Billy” and “The Infinite Blessed Yes” find the band hitting its stride. Drummer Mike Kinsella’s fractured, intricate rhythms frame Sam Zurick’s unmistakably busy, proto-flamenco fretwork, as brother Tim manages to make the most ridiculous phrases palatable (“Like symmetrical eels, she has two black eyes”). The remaining songs pass by unremarkably, but that’s not to say they’re bad, just not memorable. In the end, “Lovelessness” can be considered an above-average Owls record or an out-of-the-ordinary JOA excursion. Either way it’s worth a listen.
This article appears in Jan 29 – Feb 4, 2003.