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Built to Spill: You in Reverse
Warner Bros., 2006
Rating: 4.0
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Posted:
April 10,
2006
By
Laurence Station
Four albums into its contract with Warner Brothers, we find guitar rock
heroes Built to Spill continuing to experiment with discovering that ideal
trade-off between tight, suit-pleasing guitar pop gems and expansive,
infinity symbol-looping jam sessions. Whereas 2001’s compact and catchy
Ancient Melodies of the Future followed in the vein of 1999’s Keep it
Like a Secret, You in Reverse, the band’s sixth release
(discounting 2000’s Live), strives for the epic guitar-rock nirvana
sought (and nearly attained) by 1997’s Perfect From Now On.
The difference with the nearly decade-on Reverse is that lead ax-man,
lyricist and singer Doug Martsch more artfully inserts the appealing hooks
of Secret and Ancient Melodies in between the ad nauseam
guitar solos. Peak moment “Conventional Wisdom” achieves the strongest
synthesis between these elements, managing to serve up distinct melodies
while blazing away with unhinged abandon. The opener (and longest cut)
“Goin' Against Your Mind” provides the strongest link to Perfect-era
Built to Spill, mixing titanic fuzz-rock excursions with cosmically tinged
lyrics (“When I was a kid I saw a light / Floating high above the trees one
night / God was an alien / Turned out to be just God”).
“Gone” is less obvious in approach, being more emotionally expressive in its
lyrical content and relying on smoothly integrated organ fills to complement
the intricate guitar parts before cleverly fading out at the end. The Middle
Eastern-inflected “Mess With Time,” meanwhile, relies on slithery guitar
lines and a colossal rhythm section to augment Martsch’s affected,
chant-like vocals.
Reverse also features some appealing misdirection. “Just a Habit”
starts out slow and modest before closing with a superb, white-hot solo by
guitarist Brett Netson. Album closer “The Wait” sounds like a less engaging
variation on Ancient Melodies’ finale “The Weather,” but earns
distinction thanks to tastefully applied echo effects and, naturally, a
fiery climax that conveys a last-chance signal forcefully shot through a
fathomless void.
Disproving the whole Perfect From Now On maxim, Reverse is not
without its divots. The oddball, jam-bereft “Liar” emphasizes comparatively
straightforward chord progressions against an interesting rumination on
Mother Nature doing just fine despite nettlesome human intrusion (“Mother
Nature’s disposition / She don’t mind, she don’t care”) , while “Saturday”
-- the rare, sub-three minute Built to Spill track -- turns out to be,
paradoxically, the most plodding, though it does segue nicely into the more
robust “Wherever You Go.”
Ultimately, You in Reverse is more a refinement than an evolution of
Built to Spill’s sound. Fortunately for those inclined to guitar rock, it’s
a great sound. On the aforementioned “Conventional Wisdom,” Martsch
humorously observes “Some things never change / Something’s got to change
that”. That’s You in Reverse in a nutshell: an apt tune-up instead of
a complete overhaul of something far from broken.
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