John Vanderslice
Life and Death of an American Fourtracker
Barsuk Records
In spring 2002,
Mr. Vanderslice returned with his third solo album, the charmingly titled
Life and Death of an American Fourtracker. You may marvel at his prodigious pace, but remember, he spends all his time at
Tiny Telephone, giving him countless hours to tweak his songs and numerous great musicians to enlist to the cause. On
Life and Death, these include members of
Spoon,
Beulah,
The Court and Spark,
Death Cab For Cutie,
for Stars, and
Mates of State. You can hear the pleasure
John derives from playing with sounds in his studio on
every song of this album (check out his
track-by-track notes to see just how much fun he has at
Tiny Telephone). Often sounding like
Neutral Milk Hotel transferred into a hi-fi (or at least higher-fi) environment where nearly every sonic element is produced through meticulous, carefully considered strategy,
Vanderslice leads his cast of many through a dozen new hook-heavy experimental pop numbers dense with inexplicable but wonderful sounds, songs he says were gleaned "from home recording and acid epiphanies, to chandelier swinging and night swimming." And that's what
Life and Death sounds like.
Vanderslice is a straight-up pop alchemist.
Jesse Ashlock
last updated:
05/02/02
