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