Continued from page 24
When the melodies cut through the haze,
they can be downright entrancing, like on
“Cash Up” or “What Kind Of Person.”
While primarily a mellow adventure, one
wouldn’t call this Malkmus’ “Sea Change”
as it sounds detached from any romantic
heartbreak. However, the free-spirited,
loose-limbed jams on Traditional Techniques
push it into another arena: seasoned song-
writer throwing out his rule book.
– Andy Derer
8
GREG DULLI
Random Desire
(Royal Cream/BMG)
Calling this “the first solo album” by
The Afghan Whigs frontman Greg Dulli
isn’t technically truthful – unless it’s a
deliberate attempt to erase 2005’s Amber
Headlights altogether. Whether first or sec-
ond, it was time for another musical road
less traveled for Dulli. Surviving way
longer than most rock artists of the early
‘90s - in life and career – Dulli has man-
aged to continue to evolve musically while
remaining essential. Taking the approach
of two of his favorite rock composers,
Prince and Todd Rundgren, he originated
each of these ten tracks on the piano before
building them dimensionally with drum
beats and bass lines – like sculptures or
film scripts. The opener, “Pantomima”
almost seems like it should be the revela-
tory closer. It's the throwing back of the
curtains and opening of the windows after
a three-month wallow in self-pity post-
breakup; there’s a glint of hope in the
chiming guitar layers while Dulli chirps
“I’m waiting on a breeze”…The optimistic
tone carries over into the second track
“Sempre” by way of bright acoustic guitar
layered with Dulli’s falsetto and female
harmonies. It is third track “Marry Me”
that, like a film, cuts to a flashback, where
Dulli has just watched his paramore walk
out the door because he couldn’t commit.
The song is dominated by acoustic guitar,
but in contrast to the first two tracks, the
picture is cold and gray. “The Tide” kind
of rides the fence emotionally – like one in
the middle stages of grief. The second half
of the record has echoes of the Whigs’ 1965
and Black Love with soul-tinged vocals and
piano lines. “It Falls Apart” has an eery
“Rhiannon” vibe. A couple of songs are
likely influenced by his years of living in
New Orleans. “A Ghost” is a brilliant
Creole-flavored Spaghetti Western sound-
track, complete with wailing string sec-
tion, pedal steel, castanets, and church
bell. “Lockless” is a peculiar yet lovely
funeral dirge, with slow-plodding rhythm,
trip-hop backbeat, and horns crescendo-
ing into a wail before fading off (also rem-
iniscent of Rundgren’s Healer LP). Dulli
also plays with his vocal instrument in
ways he hasn’t on previous records, even
resulting in moments where he’s almost
unrecognizable; experiments that were
successful nonetheless. The closer "Slow
Pan” brings us out of the flash and back to
where we started - a simple repeating
piano line finds our protagonist in the bar-
gaining stage of grief: “And I wanna feel
it – Even if I have to steal it – I would do
anything – I would do anything” - while a
harp swirls around his words as if it’s all a
dream -- or a nightmare? They say people
mellow with age, and Dulli shows signs
here, but in the same way that a good
whiskey mellows in the barrel, the flavor’s
less harsh, but that little burn in the back
of the throat still hurts so good going
down.
– Penelope Biver
Appearing April 25 at Metro, Chicago.
This show will be rescheduled because of
COVID-19.
continued from page 22
ing over her head, she simply spent most
days in bed, drinking and binge-watching
an unhealthy amount of reality TV. “And I
think reality television was a way for me to
get out of my own head and out of my own
thoughts, because I could just watch other
people’s lives and how cuckoo they are. So
at that point, it was a lot of the Bravo TV
series Van Der Pump Rules. She’s delighted
to note that she just had the honor of fea-
turing four Van Der cast members in the
video for her comeback song, “Everything
Has Changed.” “So I came full circle from
living in this weird, dark period and
watching that show to all these years later,
where I actually got them to be in my
music video. It definitely was a cool little
completion-of-the-circle kind of thing.”
well. Although the artist couldn’t imagine
ever completing another full Best Coast
album at the time, she accepted one chal-
lenge — composing Best Kids, a children’s
recording that took her mind off more sig-
nificant problems. It was a world she was
coming to know quite well, after writing
music for an Amazon American Girl fran-
chise Christmas movie, plus various PBS
young-audience programs. “It’s very fun
to make music for kids because you don’t
have to think too much,” she says. “So it
allowed me to be creative and craft these
really fun, catchy songs with silly lyrics.
And it was a way for us to get back into a
studio and record music again, and for me
to get behind a microphone again and just
sing.” Not long after, she adds, she felt that
8
Follow us on Twitter
@ie_entertainer
Bobb Bruno and Bethany Cosentino
photo by Eddie Chacon
Yes, Cosentino did see a therapist dur-
ing her down period, she admits. But her
clarity took on other forms. She deter-
mined to stop wallowing in her misery and
extricate herself from that ominous abode
for daily nature hikes. She began reading
transformative self-help manuals, includ-
ing one her mother recommended – The
Artist’s Way. “But I was still trying to make
music, and I couldn’t,” she recalls. “Only
slowly did I start to get my inspiration
back, and a lot of that had to do with me
just really, really coming to terms with the
idea that I needed to work on myself. So
there was a lot of trial and error of trying
different things and pushing myself out of
my comfort zone, even by just trying to get
out of my house more. And slowly, I start-
ed to get my inspiration back.”
Help arrived from outside sources, as
7
old spark of urgency again. “And I was
really excited to make another Best Coast
record.”
Now there was just one little problem.
Word was out that Best Coast was back
and better than ever, and more projects
were suddenly on the table. Some made
sense; some didn’t. And then some were
just so nonsensical, she found them attrac-
tive anyway, and she jumped at the oppor-
tunity to try something new. “We were in
the studio making this album, and I got a
call from our manager, and he said, ‘Fred
Savage is doing a show on Fox called What
Just Happened? she remembers. “‘And, the
premise is, it’s a parody of an after-show
for a show that doesn’t exist,’ And I was
like, ‘What does that even MEAN?’ But
they wanted us to make the music for it,
and Bobb and I said, ‘Sure — whatever.
continues on page 47
24 illinoisentertainer.com april 2020