Kevin Drew, a/k/a Feist's boyfriend, has stepped outside the commune to release his "solo" debut Spirit If?, the first in the Broken Social Scene Presents series. It's his name on the cover ? best use of unicorns since CocoRosie's Noah's Ark, natch -- but the shape shifting Torontonian doesn't seem to mind sounding like a crowd. (And we're not talking BSS?)
Excuse the following laundry list, but damn if indie-rock echoes aren't a large part of Spirit If?'s comfy charm: "TbtF"'s not only the sexiest musical initials since "O.P.P." (albeit with a more TCBY feel), the muted buoyancy's also Rather Ripped;"Safety Bricks"'s downcast, sunny strum stirs Yo La Tengo's beating hearts; the twittering, dusky "F--Ked Up Kid" feels a bit like those dudes who orchestrated Kid A (only a couple records earlier); and first single "Back Out On The..."'s central lift brings-out some Guided By Voices (and, uh, Guided By Mascis). Want younger reference points? "Underneath The Skin" ? 46 seconds of drifting, plucking, purring, gurgles -- closes in on an Avey Tare side project. Not enough Canadian namedrops? "Frightening Lives"'s jagged drum-machine noir hits like caffeinated Handsome Furs or Pink Mountaintops and "Broke Me Up" is hella Feist percussive. Speaking of which, yeah, of course, despite what we said in the last graph, Spirit If? can sound like a smaller, more insulated take on Drew's other band -- heck, the record was co-produced by Broken Social Scenesters Ohad Benchetrit and Charles Spearin, and a current standout "Aging Faces/Losing Places" is co-sung, we think, with Amy Millan ? or Emily Haines ? or ?
The countless horn swells, delicate/crushed velvet guitar parts, Krauty builds, homey studio chatter, and midnight whispers are appealing -- see the clattering, psychedelic, heavy breathing opener "Farewell To The Pressure Kids"; 7-minute rootsy, soulful, anthemic, at times Thurston conjuring "Lucky Ones" with its continual upswing, smeary group "yeah"'s and jubilant Gospel choiring; or the languid pulsations of "Bodhi Sappy Weekend." Such easy listening! During these moments, it feels like Drew has it in him to be the biggest temporary BSS expat since his gal pal ? or at least to score a bunch of Wes Anderson films.
Still, we need to lodge one large-scale complaint: At more than an hour, Spirit If?'s just way too long. The shaggy-doggedness is appreciated, but there aren't the hooks or chops to fill-up the entire program. During the twanging folk-a-long album closer "When It Begins" an ad hoc boy-girl chorus let's us know, "It's going to be really hard when we get to the end." Well, yeah, endings are often hard, it's just that this particular finale's kind of difficult to locate in the first place. We kid! (Actually, we don't: Even that last track breaks in two toward a distorted, twittering baroque-instrumental exeunt?)
Nitpicking aside, it'll be great hearing Spirit If? in the flesh at McCarren Pool on August 29th. If the weather's nice, the song selection right, maybe we can recreate "1, 2, 3, 4." Or at least that video for "Back Out On The?"
In case it's eluded you, this tune's too beautiful to fucking pass up.
Kevin Drew - "Tbtf" (MP3)
And head to Kevin's MySpace for a listen of b-side "Cocaine Skin." Spirit If... is out 9/18 via Arts & Crafts.
