Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Cream Why Roman Candle Is A-OK With Me (Unexpectedly)
Posted by Steve Haruch on Tue, May 5, 2009 at 1:57 PM
As listeners, we all have our prejudices. It's not that they're impossible to overcome, just we tend to be more receptive to certain things, especially on a first listen, and more easily dismissive of others. I got a copy of the new album by Roman Candle, called Oh Tall Tree in the Ear, and I like it. I just don't know why I like it. On paper, they commit all sorts of fouls against what, for better or worse, I would call my standard musical preferences.
1. First, there's The Bob Dylan Thing. I don't hate Bob Dylan or anything, but as a rule, anything that comes off as overtly/overly Dylanesque is, to my ears, years late and dollars short. And way too often, bands seem to think that the way to ape Bob Dylan is to get all meaningfulcore and soul-searching and honest about it. This is usually disastrous, because you shouldn't go trying to make something sincere out of something calculated.
2. Speaking of sincerity, there's the Earnestness. I am a big fan of a certain kind of earnestness in music--namely, the dejected, defeatist kind. Generally speaking, though, I'm not a big fan of the "we're a little bit smarter than everyone else and just as unhappy as we sing over this jangly shambling" kind of earnestness. (See also No. 1, above.)
3. I'm also not a fan, broadly speaking, of namedropping your influences in a song that's about listening to the radio, and how music used to be so much better back when your influences were making music, and how, implicitly, your music is better than today's music because you've aligned yourself with influences from the past. This may be an unfair prejudice, but that's the nature of prejudice.
And yet I like this album. Maybe it's the Rilke reference in the title. I don't know, but they won me over. Go check out Roman Candle's Lake Fever Session, then check out Michael McCall's feature in this week's paper, then go see the band next Tuesday, May 12, at Mercy Lounge.
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I have loved roman candle years prior to their nashville move. This little review makes me happy
Dylan? Which era/album? I've seen them a handful of times, know the albums. I've never heard as much as a Jakob Dylan influence.
The hazards of blogging on press day (and perhaps not being as thorough/exact as one might be otherwise). Re: Dylan, I mostly mean the song "Modern Radio Is A-OK With Me," when I say this. It sounds to my ear almost like a sped-up "Positively Fourth Street" as sung by a guy who has a cell phone but sort of wishes he didn't. Then there's some of the vocal inflection and the way the organ swells. Certainly not a perfect overlay--and definitely not a lazy rip--but I think it's there.
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