Damien Jurado and Gathered in Song
I Break Chairs
[Sub Pop; 2002]
Rating: 7.1
There is a certain comfort to be found in habit. My father recognized this while
yet a young man; it took me much longer to recognize the same with regards to him.
For years I attempted to give Harlan imaginative, heartfelt Christmas and birthday
presents, only to be dismayed when I would find said presents months later resting
atop bookshelves, uncracked, or in the bottoms of a cardboard boxes, prepared for
storage. All Harlan ever asked for was v-neck t-shirts, old-man boxers, and the
occasional pair of khaki "slacks." It took me over 20 years to finally acquiesce
in this boxers and slacks philanthropy.
To some degree, we all prefer the familiar. This explains the stateside failure
of the metric system and, to a lesser extent, vegemite. Like they say, if it
ain't broke, don't fix it. I feel the same way about women's hair. For example,
what heterosexual male has not been forced to answer this question: "Honey, how
do you like my new haircut?" For your information, the "correct" answer is always
"I love it. You look like Bo Derek." The large-nutted boyfriend, however, would
reject appeasement and instead offer the following rejoinder: "You mean the one
that makes you look like Billie Jean King? What the fuck were you thinking?"
If Damien Jurado's music were my girlfriend, I just might grow nuts and drop that
bomb. The folk-pop of Jurado's prior three releases was honest, introspective,
moody, sometimes peppy and sometimes heartbreaking. The new Jurado is none of
those things. It is the long-haired girlfriend who gets mowed by Fantastic Sam's.
Produced by Pedro the Lion's David Bazan, I Break Chairs consistently
presents a more direct, aggressive rock tenor that is very surprising, and for a
fan like myself, a bit disappointing.
Not disappointing at all, however, is the first track on I Break Chairs,
"Paperwings." The rollicking pop-rock number has a gritty, foot-stomping edge to
it, and a powerful chorus built around descending, overdriven bar chords (replete
with Jurado yelping a high note way beyond his range). The tunes on the rest of
the disc are recognizably Jurado, with sparse lyricism and Damien's characteristic
melodic tools (like the guitar tracking the vocal melody, as on "Inevitable" and
"Air Show Disaster"). Orchestration is simple and direct, with guitars at the
forefront and bass and drums locked and solid. Jurado's voice lends a folksy,
country timbre to the mix. Another high moment comes on the instrumental denouement
of "Never Ending Tide," which balances a background of controlled feedback and
drum machine with a wistful, reverbed guitar riff. "Like Titanic" blends pop-rock
Damien with shades of the sweet, quaint, and thoughtful Damien of earlier years.
It's sappy but rewarding.
By the end of the record, though, the songs begin to blend together (some even
seem to blend into other albums, like "Lose My Head," which I swear I've heard
before). Jurado was aiming for thematic consistency with the disc; he wanted a
rock record, and that's what he recorded. Stylistically, however, there's little
room for error when writing pop-rock songs, especially those with a creative
approach as generic as this collection. Without a recognizable hook, there's very
little to set a song apart. So songs like "Big Deal," "The Way You Look," and
"Castles" just seem to take up space. They're well executed, with plenty of sonic
punch-- they just lack that certain je ne sai quoi that digs itself into your
subconscious.
When you learn to love something, the word "change" is inherently bad. It inspires
a reflexive hatred regardless of the merits of the change. So maybe I Break
Chairs was doomed from the start. But like short-haired women, I've warmed up
a little to the new-look Jurado. It's not half bad-- it's solidly executed and
very consistent. There aren't any obvious weak spots, and there are a few peaks.
But in the final analysis, I yearn for the Damien of old. He just did what he did
(the melancholy stuff, in particular) better than anybody else. To use the 9/11
vernacular, a return to normalcy would be welcome. Let's just hope Damien's got
a little Harlan in him.
-Brad Haywood, March 21st, 2002