Eventually, All at Once / The Intelligent Design of Joan of Arc

Eventually, All at Once / The Intelligent Design of Joan of Arc
Label: Record Label / Polyvinyl
Length: LP
Media: CD
Format: Album
WorkNameSort: Eventually, All at Once / The Intelligent Design of Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc’s reputation for provocative and pretentious music precedes it in the indie rock world, most prominently in the form of scathing Pitchfork Media reviews: The Chicago-based band could combine four album scores without maxing out on the site’s 10-point scale. Eventually, All at Once will leave first-time listeners puzzled as to how this pleasant drone-folk outfit could be so polarizing. Tim Kinsella’s guitar lines recall Richard Buckner’s subtly entrancing progressions, and his vocals are unwaveringly easygoing, even when the finger-picked backdrops become gently oblique. Scattered percussion and countermelodic strums complement the casually concise program. On Intelligent Design, a collection of compilation tracks and rarities from throughout the group’s decade-long career, Joan’s controversial content rears its ugly head. Kinsella yodels, engages in overextended singsong segments and recites lazily quirky lyrics (‘I’m clumsy as a clumsy ghostâ?�), while his collaborators contribute honking horns, jazzy clatter, flatulent feedback, electronic screeches, maddeningly paced dirges and arcade bleeps. An atypically catchy piano-pop number with a typically verbose title (‘Please Don’t Mistake My Arrogance for Shynessâ?�) pleads for an iPod to salvage it from its surroundings. Eventually makes an ideal starting point for JOA novices, while Intelligent Design marks the masochistic endgame for JOA completists.

This article appears in Jul 19-25, 2006.