Unity of Opposites: The best and worst of the latest in music
Stranger to Stranger
PAUL SIMON
Concord
There’s something inherently flaccid about Paul Simon’s 30-year-old genre-bending, but luckily for him, elasticity is a boon to the mind — these lyrics are sharp. I’ll eat his hat if “The Werewolf” isn’t about Hillary Clinton, and even if it’s not, you can’t deny the wit of “Now they’re shopping for a fairly decent afterlife” or “Most obits are mixed reviews.” And while less-pointed cuts like “Wristband” might be a tad trite, they blow maximalist imitators like Animal Collective out of the water. Simon’s never been afraid to let his own personal verve shine through — when you listen to him, you’re in it just as much for the voice as you are the frills, which is why you won’t skip the mellow phases.
Yes, every song tells a story, and though that’s a trivial compliment, it’s important when checking Simon’s pulse. Did he ever lose his touch? Maybe not completely, but as I said, the worldbeat shtick can get old. Instead, “Stranger to Stranger” thrives on a wide variety of subtle emotions — often the best kind of emotion, the lasting sort. The most obvious one here is isolation, not of a schizoid sort but the mature, sympathetic variety, but without pretension. “It’s just a way of dealing with my joy,” he claims, but it’s the less nominal themes that keep coming back to him, namely that of his forgotten “street angels,” both on their own song and the lively “In a Parade.” The greatest triumph, however, is the variegated retort “Cool Papa Bell,” in which not every rodent gets a birthday cake.
Love You to Death
TEGAN AND SARA
Vapor
Tegan and Sara used to be indie darlings of a sort, except not really. Each listener had one or two songs they liked, but no more (I was partial to “Back in Your Head”). That’s not to say there weren’t some real fans, but the duo always had to fight the novelty factor of their existence: twin lesbianism, names with consonants conspicuously left out. Do you remember Sparks? They teamed up with Giorgio Moroder for a couple electronic ventures after a decade of pomp and guitar. When they did it, there was a knowing undercurrent; the synthesizers existed purely to be contextualized by the rock elements. Now, it’s fine that Tegan and Sara never rocked per se, but hotshot producer Greg Kurstin doesn’t seem to get it — or maybe he does. Beck seems to like him.
So who’s really to blame for this abomination? Take the first single, “Boyfriend” — the banal arrangement is a given, but the chord progressions aren’t so bad. The liner notes say the mixing was done by someone else, so that leaves us with the lyrics — let’s pretend for the moment that putting your sexuality up front doesn’t already make you an avatar on principle and examine just how primitive their sentiments have become: “I let you take advantage cause it felt so good?” I guess that’s a step up from “How Come You Don’t Want Me,” but it has sadly become clear that these girls’ fleeting talent is dried up, especially when a starlight-ride so basic as “Hang on to the Night” tacked on to the back end of the album is the best song they’ve done in seven years.
Travis Johnson lives in New London. He has a music blog that can be found at theoldnoise.blogspot.com. Follow him @ThisOldNoise or contact him at thisoldnoise@gmail.com.
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