Written
by David Shouse, posted by blog admin
Chris
Bartels’ career trajectory is reminiscent of many other fine performers on the
indie scene. He’s a jack of many projects, never adhering to just one course,
and it’s resulted in a number of notable projects and efforts that reveal him
as one of the best all around songwriting talents flying under mainstream radar
today. His guitar playing is a powerful part of his presentation, but his
vocals shouldn’t escape notice as he has quite an intelligent and emotive side
to his singing reaching far beyond the ken of most indie singers. It makes his
often poetic, at least suggestive, lyrical content stand out even more. The
five songs on his newest solo EP, Myths and Mold, clearly shows that he’s
capable of crafting some beautiful lyrics alongside near ideal sonic settings
for that writing.
The
EP begins with a decidedly alternative rock/indie music guitar vibe, but
Bartels never stops there. He’s expended a tremendous amount of creative energy
getting the guitar sound and composition right on songs like the opener “Blind”,
but it’s equally apparent that he’s devoted considerable effort to structuring
the vocals in such a way that they have a dramatic theatrical quality missing
from much of modern music. Some might hear similarities or influences from the
popular act Bon Iver, but Bartels is a more accessible singer and songwriter
overall and the sheer variety of voices he utilizes in his performances often
outstrips Justin Vernon’s offerings in this style. The guitar playing is even
more assertive on the EP’s second track “Missoula”. Careful listening to this
song reveals it to be a track about inchoate and specific longing – Bartels does
an exemplary job of placing that mood in the right musical context. The melodic
virtues of this track are the strongest on Myths and Mold, but they aren’t run
of the mill melodies with identifiable tropes. Like he’s capable of in other
areas, Bartels’ melodic sense challenges the audience’s preconception of what
popular music and melody can accomplish together.
The
theme of longing continues with the track “Stay”. The same melodic excellence
we heard on the preceding song thankfully persists through this tune and the
lyric even more directly exposes Bartels’ vulnerability without ever cheapening
it. Myths and Mold takes its artiest turn with its title song, but Bartels
never belabors his ambitions. He packs an impressive amount of musical world
into the title song’s relatively brief amount of space while maintain a light,
tasteful touch. Not many performers mixing electronica, guitar, and
multi-tracked and layered vocals can claim that. He returns to more familiar
territory with the last song, “Counting Hands”. This conclusion probably has a
more definite “shape” than any other track on the release, but this veneer of
traditional normalcy doesn’t sound out of place. There’s certainly enough of
Bartels’ unique musical imagination powering this, albeit more subtly than
usual, to make it an effective final curtain. Myths and Mold is a release of such
quality that it places Bartels among the first rank of indie songwriters and
sonic auteurs working today.
Grade:
A-
No comments:
Post a Comment