In case you missed it, Iowa City’s resident aural weirdo and
bottomless pit of creativity, Samuel Locke Ward, has deemed 2013 to be “The
Lame Years” and made a half-hearted vow to release a new album every month for
the entire year.
The “half-hearted” jibe is the result of his clarification
that he can pull out of his mock contract with fans at any time during the 12-month
period, Ward could back out of the schedule and miss a month or so. From what I
understand, SLW and his wife just had their first baby, so experience should
indicate that this goal is probably going to be a tough one to complete.
Experience also shows that the more you try to throw against
the wall to see what sticks, the more shit you’ll have to clean up when it’s
all over. But S.L.W. has been running at a break-neck release schedule for some
time now, and while it’s proven to include some filler, the ratio is
surprisingly low.
For The Lame Years
second release, Panther Puss, the
ratio dips even lower. The February release is a more acoustic affair where as Volume 1 took a more electronic
approach, which was good if not a bit harder to appreciate.
Samuel Locke Ward thrives in the acoustic setting as it
forces him to rely on his keen sense of song structure instead of the plethora
of distracting audio and instrument gadgets that always seem to be close by.
The strongest of the lot-“Swastika Eyes”-may be his best
song to date, sung in a desperate register while his vocal dubbed companion
tackles a higher one on the right channel. “The master race spiel has me
yawning every time” he admits, “And your new hate-do has me rolling my eyes.”
The politics are an exaggeration (hopefully), but the song’s
overall message-coming to terms with the pink elephant of a relationship, and
having that colorful pachyderm the reason for splitting-is something that lots
of couples have had to endure. While the decision may be easy, the love that is
lost in the process still hurts, even when it’s morally necessary.
S.L.W. cleverly follows the track with one entitled “A
Terrible Man Will Lead Us,” and whoever that leader is-Bush, Obama, Hitler-is a
matter of your own perception, as Sam isn’t one to offer many hints.
Otherwise, Panther
Puss is more of the same low-fi zaniness complete with strange vocal takes
against a backdrop of surprisingly straightforward arrangements. Think Sun City
Girls without the world-view instrumentation and with more personal politics as
the primary motivator.
Ward isn’t one to specify who’s responsible for his
discontent, he merely reports. And from the front line, it’s an existence of
finding canned bargains in the damaged item rack (“Gimmie Canned Food”),
dealing with people who lack any semblance of empathy for the human race (“Why
Should I Care?”), and how his college town world is suddenly filled with bad
people instead of the far-fetched notion that Iowa City’s free-spirit liberals
have kept it clear of the same bullshit that impacts everyone else (“Shitty
Streets”).
It’s one thing to document your everyday trial and
tribulations, but to do it in such a fascinating manner is something that’s
only reserved for those with the talent to make it so compulsory. Samuel Locke
Ward possesses that talent, and Panther
Puss suggests that his “Lame Years” project is neither lame or suffering
from its assembly-line release schedule.
No comments:
Post a Comment