Giraffes
The Days are Filled with Years
[Orange]
Rating: 4.8
A friend told me recently that William "The Refrigerator" Perry was
working somewhere as a bricklayer. I have no idea if this is true, but
if it is, it's a tragic illustration of how fame and wealth sometimes
exist in different time zones. You think that when you see someone on
the cover of a major magazine, they're somehow set for life financially.
Not so, my friend. Remember that Weather Report bassist Jaco Pastorius
spent his final years homeless, walking around with copies of Heavy
Weather under his arm, trying to talk people into buying him drinks.
Eventually, the royalty checks stop coming.
So what do you think Chris Ballew from the Presidents of the United
States of America is up to these days? Sitting in a bar pointing to a
copy of their self-titled debut, whining, "Buy me a drink, man! That's
me, that dude on the two-string guitar"? No, no, Mr. Ballew is still
making records as the sole long-necked mammal in the Giraffes. He's not
making great records, you understand, but he's still making
records, and that has to count for something.
There's something so pleasantly low-key and unassuming about The
Days are Filled with Years that it's easy to overlook how incredibly
inconsequential it is. If you have a friend that plays guitar and writes
his own songs, chances are they're no worse than the 13 Chris Ballew has
assembled here. But admit it: you like hearing that friend play
his songs sometimes. Expectations are low, so what the fuck?
The Days are Filled with Years is split half-and-half between
goofy vocal pop songs and goofy instrumentals. There's nothing here as
strong as "Lump" (stop and think about that for a second), but Ballew
doesn't embarrass himself. It just sounds like some dude in his bedroom
having fun layering parts on a mid-level home deck, not thinking too
much about how this stuff will be received. And there's something
refreshing about that tone, even if it accompanies below-average
material.
The songs with vocals remind me how much Ballew must have liked They
Might Be Giants, though he doesn't have a shred of their cleverness.
"Kill the Cake" has a catchy new wave melody, but Ballew delivers it
on the DL over a simple acoustic arrangement. The retro instrumentals
generally stagger around in the lounge, but work alright as background
music. And yes, he still plays the two-string. Okay, Chris, you sold
me: what are you drinking?
-Mark Richard-San