Neil Hagerty
Neil Michael Hagerty
[Drag City]
Rating: 6.4
Yes, Pitchfork readers, there's a new NMH in town, and this one is
more likely to reference Ann Wilson than Anne Frank. Amid confusing reports
that Royal Trux have broken up, Neil has gone the route of that other early
Drag City artist and released a solo album. I still haven't heard the Malkmus
record, but I gather from reviews that it's similar to his work with Pavement.
Neil Michael Hagerty, on the other hand, is a bit of a curveball.
This record shares the Royal Trux fixation on rock history, but with looser
songwriting and weirder instrumentation. And, of course, it doesn't feature
Jennifer Herrema's crazed singing. I found her voice increasingly grating
over the last two records, so that initially seemed a major plus. And in
truth, I do enjoy this record more than Pound for Pound. Still,
Herrema's vocal sneer was in some ways the soul of Royal Trux, and there does
seem to be a hole in this record where her Steven Tyler-isms once existed.
Maybe it's just me, but Hagerty seems a little lonely. He's playing every
instrument; he's singing and writing every song-- the only person he's
interacting with is himself. Royal Trux, at their best, always got mileage
out of the image of partners in love doing it their way.
But now I'm getting into the circumstances surrounding this record, as if
they mattered. What counts is the music. And the music sounds like the demo
tape for the Grateful Dead's Aoxomoxoa, with better songwriting and
worse sound quality. Seriously, for a guy that owns his own studio and
frequently collects checks as a producer, Hagerty has made some bizarre sonic
choices on this one. The drum machine and bass are way down in the mix; a
deliciously cheesy organ (just like Pigpen used to play!) is way out front,
and nearly every track is about one-third guitar solo. The songs are short,
though, so that's not as bad as it sounds. And while not technically one of
the better guitarists in music today, the guy can still make it howl like
Allen Ginsberg in a wind tunnel. The harmonized guitar and organ parts on "I
Found a Stranger" are a drone-lover's wet dream; when Hagerty bursts into his
soulman falsetto around the three-minute mark, the contrast is divine.
The tunes these guitar solos hang on are 100% pure Americana, but filtered
through a guy who's clearly removed from any sense of "authenticity." That is,
Hagerty can sing a good folk tune like "Repeat the Sound of Joy," even though
he doesn't sound like he's spent any time in the country. (And this despite
living in rural Virginia!) This quality is what makes the Stones' Exile on
Main Street such a great record. Both "Whiplash in Park" and "Fortune and
Fear" thrive on classic rock riffs of the Allman Brothers kind, and "Creature
Catcher" sounds like, I don't know, Canned Heat. As an anonymous hippie once
suggested, "Turn it up, man!"
-Mark Richard-San