Sunday, September 7, 2014

Review: J. Mascis- Tied To A Star




When you think of J. Mascis, one generally pictures his extremely loud and abrasive guitar work with his band Dinosaur Jr. This is not the case with his recent solo output, as this album, along with its predecessor, Several Shades of Why, which have a much more intimate sound, with large parts of the work consisting of acoustic guitar stylings. The ever present Neil Young vocal comparisons are definitely more apparent when backed with some finger picked guitar.

I see myself comparing this album in a strange way to Beck's Morning Phase. They are both acoustic efforts from artists who have their noisy streaks, but where Beck's album felt a little listless, J. Mascis's work has been lively and incredibly varied. There are some very beautiful and catchy songs to be found on this album, and where as Morning Phase, though pretty, seemed to drag due to its slower tempo, Tied to a Star shows a diverse set of songs that are all very great in their own way.

Bits of Dinosaur Jr. do bleed its way into this album, which is to be expected, but mainly these distorted lines are far in the sonic background, while the acoustic guitar and vocals provide for an intimate and introspective foreground. Any fan of Dinosaur Jr. would find this a surprising but extremely worth while listen, but this album has the potential to find a much broader audience with its folkier and less tinnitus inducing sound. Not that there's anything wrong with Dinosaur Jr.'s harder edge, but I guess even J. Mascis thinks there's good in messing with the formula every once and a while.

Out of a total of five stars, I give this:



I'll most likely be doing another classic spotlight in the near future, while eagerly anticipating my chance to listen to Aphex Twin's first full album in 13 years, SYRO.



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