Gary Glauber
Reviews: October, 2004

Scroll down for reviews of releases by Kevin Tihista's Red Terror, Seth Swirsky, The Zinedines and timewellspent

Kevin Tihista's Red Terror
Wake Up Captain

(Parasol Records)

Release Date: September 21, 2004

www.parasol.com

I enjoyed Kevin Tihista's previous efforts (Judo and Don't Breathe A Word) and I truly liked Epicycle's most recent offering (Swirl). As such, I was eagerly looking forward to the follow-up CDs from both of these artists - hardly realizing that one CD would suffice. Wake Up Captain is an ambitious 17-song cycle from prolific, yet notoriously shy Chicago songster Tihista, but it's also just as much fueled by the music and arrangements of Ellis Clark and his brother Tom (Epicycle), who lend their multi-instrumental magic and unique musical sensibilities to the voluminous proceedings.

Every track here takes Tihista's innocent whimsy and wonder and translates it through the eclectic "Pink Floyd meets Harry Nilsson" filter that makes Epicycle so special. As a result, even the simplest of Tihista's songs gets intriguing production values that serve to enhance the overall effect. In the end, it's one surefire great album. What becomes evident is that Tihista's songwriting talent is stronger than ever, and his lyrics have improved too.

Wake Up Captain is an impressive accomplishment -- a haunting collection of predominantly quiet chamber pop songs that herald the views of an outsider, looking in, some trading upon the nautical imagery implied by the CD's title.

From the strings that begin the "Outro," this CD cries out for headphones. There are subtle nuances and layers to the instrumentation throughout.

In "Real Life," there's an admission of wrongs in this life ("the next life will teach me to love more freely") even though "my life does what it wants to do," a sense of wanting the good times, and a condemnation of heavy minds, urging "You've got to open your life." It's a ballad of contemplation, a musical cousin to old Pink Floyd songs.

The sweet ditty "Oh" poses the questions of choosing between drowning lovers ("Which one would you save?"), or of thoughts remembered on the deathbed ("Will it be his love or will it be mine?"). Beach Boy-like harmonies and strings enhance the overall effect of this offbeat love song.

"Damn The Weather" employs accordion and octave-apart vocals (along with a lovely electric guitar lead) to get across its message of apology for lies and actions ("I never knew that I could ruin a life") and a promise that "someday this will get better."

The dramatic and oft-ominous sounding "Ride" builds from Tihista's lone voice into harmonies and piano, then simmers further with brass accompaniment, never quite reaching the boiling point it seems on the verge of approaching.

"O.K." is a sweet acoustic ballad, Tihista's voice and guitar serving up sounds of friendly warmth, as he reassures that he will keep an eye on his baby, wanting her to be okay. Bacharach-type horns add to the sentimental poignancy.

I love the lyrics of "Sweet," capturing the split personality inherent in a torridly destructive love relationship. It's a love of compromise even at best, and Tihista is spot on in recording it: "I'm feeling lighter than a feather underneath a brick in windy weather / Oh, she's the sweetest thing that ever could be / She's knocking out all my teeth / And nothing ever could be better / except of course something better."

Harmonies lift the short "Godsend" above the acoustic fray, and strings and subtle organ/synth notes keep it suspended. Passing time ticks like a bomb here, weighing heavily on the narrator, who know realizes his love may not be the godsend he once thought she was.

One of the more immediately accessible songs here is the infectious "Family Curse," an ode to silent adolescents the world over. What others insinuate angers Tihista, but the point here is that he's still sweet, hard working, and hard loving - regardless of his reluctance to talk.

One of the best Harry Nilsson songs ever to be written by another, "Good Wings" approaches the serious matter of a drinking problem in a somewhat whimsical manner. Convinced he could fly, our singer winds up in the hospital where he gets a good lecturing from his lady about mending his ways. Still, he has his own clever answers: "Oh, I should have used my good wings / Oh, it's nothing more than this / Oh, flying's not the problem / Oh you know the landing is."

"Freakshow" is one full production of a song, featuring despondent lyrics safely ensconced within an upbeat sounding keyboard-driven melody. It's all about a life of constant disappointments, buying flowers to cover up mistakes, things not turning out as planned over and over again to the point of boredom.

Though it sounds light and capricious at times (with whistling and barrelhouse piano), "It's Over" isn't any more of a happy song than "Freakshow." This is a song of a college relationship's end, one that probably started with obsession ("I'm addicted to your walk, I'm affected when you talk / I know everything about you and it turns you on").

The Philly soul-R&B/disco sounds of "Yummy" will have you bopping your head along to its rhythmic strains. Typhanie Monique Coller's backup vocals lend a bona fide feel to the song, a wry promise of long-term fidelity: "Yummy, yummy, yummy, I've got drugs in my tummy / to keep me loving you."

"Still" is a pleasant mid-tempo ballad, a forlorn song sweetened with harmonies, all about wishing back on a relationship now forever gone.

This ambitious undertaking closes with the detente of "This Is An Offering," wherein a brand new start is proposed. It's a song about relearning to love with hearts (not just heads or hands), an element of strong hope on an otherwise bleak horizon: "You and I are many things / but we're nothing without each other now."

This nearly hour-long song cycle exudes a sense of importance beyond the cynicism and self-effacing humor of the individual songs, a feeling that great care has been taken to reward the listener each step along the way.

Epicycle's influences can be heard prominently here (as I said Pink Floyd meets Nilsson), but they enhance Tihista's songwriting and the end results are greater than the sum of the parts. Singer/songwriters these days rarely attempt such ambitious musical projects; fewer still are those that manage to breathe life into the resultant CD.

While it requires patience and headphones for the full effect, Wake Up Captain is a resounding triumph, proof positive that Tihista (and the Clarks') talents are maturing rapidly into something that the population at large will find hard to ignore much longer.

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Seth Swirsky
Instant Pleasure

(Julian's Dad Music)

Release Date: October 1, 2004

www.seth.com

Short, but sweet. That concise description of Seth Swirsky's solo album doesn't do it full justice, but it's true. This soft pop is awash in harmony and melody, a throwback to the sounds of more idealistic decades gone by. These eleven short musical delights seem to pass in the blink of an eye, leaving the hungry listener wanting far more.

Swirsky, a renaissance man of sorts (author/songwriter/artist/collector) has collected an impressive gathering of musical friends to help him with this debut endeavor, but Instant Pleasure is anything but the work of a newcomer. Swirsky has already penned some 350 songs for many of the world's top recording artists (among them Celine Dion, Al Green, Michael McDonald, Rufus Wainwright, Taylor Dane, Tina Turner, The Four Tops, The Go-Gos, Air Supply, and Smokey Robinson), so he's no stranger to the art of fine songwriting. Further, he's co-written songs with an impressive arsenal of pop composers like Eric Carmen, Marshall Crenshaw and Felix Cavaliere.

As they say in the investment biz, past performance is no guarantee of future success. But Swirsky's track record stands him in good stead here - he knows his craft well and the comfort level and confidence is obvious in these performances. Seth's voice is clear, pleasant and understated, never detracting from these uber-catchy melodies and intriguing lyrical portraits. The production values are layered and masterful, featuring intricate instrumental arrangements and a sense of "right mix, right song" throughout.

Of course, this is unsurprising, considering the talented Dorian Crozier (Five For Fighting) produced, mixed and recorded it (when he wasn't adding in drums, bass guitar, programming and keyboards). Instant Pleasure is warm and rich and loaded with beautiful melodic moments.

The title track leads off the CD, a most infectious tongue-in-cheek glance at our society's fast-paced desire for immediate gratification. Some of you might recognize it from the Big Daddy soundtrack, which featuring a version recorded by Rufus Wainwright. Since that version never really got much exposure, Swirsky was determined to do it his pop way - and listeners will be glad he did. Helping on this track was John Mayer's guitarist Michael Chavez, while former Rembrandt Danny Wilde contributed backing vocals.

It's hard not to root for a narrator who doesn't ask for much ("all I want is someone to love me and give me sex whenever I want it") and displays a bit of career bravado as well ("all I want to do is paint / but I hear the pay ain't great / think I'll do it anyway").

The fun continues with "Herman Cherry," Swirsky's quirky biographical musical salute to the abstract expressionist (1909-1992). Swirsky happened upon an unusual description of the painter in a used bookstore and knew it would become a song: "Herman Cherry is a very tiny man / A walrus moustache and an ever-present cigar / He can jitterbug with the very best of them."

Swirsky avoids traditional rhyme schemes at time, yet still manages some wonderfully poetic descriptions of the man's art: "throbbing colors like a heart, always beating very hard / in no specific time or place / in textures made of sand and utterly unplanned / everything in its place." The song is another three-minute vignette, and features some nice electric guitar and background vocals from the other Rembrandt, Phil Solem.

Solem's acoustic guitar is a standout on the next track "Only Me Fair May," another short, sweet song that captures a gorgeous pastoral feel, with sort of a Stephen Duffy/Lilac Time vibe to it. It's an intriguing love song, the inspiration for which was a woman whose email address was the title of a Robert Stevenson poem.

The CD's first single, "It's Still Love," has a fun history. Swirsky originally wrote it for Ringo Starr, as sort of a sequel idea to that of "All You Need Is Love." An ambitious Swirsky got the song to Mark Hudson and Ringo, but too late for their most recent album (which was already done at the time). He did like it, though, and it might be on his next record.

Swirsky's version is laced with Beatle spirit, complete with George Harrison-style guitars and dreamy backing harmonies (in part provided by Andy Sturmer). It's a song one can easily envision Ringo singing, as it reminds us of noble sentiments: "It's still love that we need even more than before / It's still love, I believe, that the world's aching for / 'Cause when push comes to shove, it's still love."

Swirsky is a master of the small musical portrait. "Roger" is one such snapshot, capturing a life through mentioning odd details ("he plays the ukelele well") and how escalating rents exiled him to Brooklyn. In this brief song (it's only a minute and a half or so), there's more of that Lilac Time-ish sort of quiet melodic poignancy. The instrumental arrangements are perfect, and listeners are left wanting to know more about this man who "lives between a pool hall and a bridge."

Another short musical mood-piece follows with "Wednesday Unraveling." Swirsky's guitar and voice are accompanied by Stevie Black's fine cello work, a man's bright morning ruined by a disturbing phone call ("she's leaving").

One of my personal favorites here is "Edinburgh," a song narrated by someone caught between two friends about to be (and then later, already) involved in a love affair. This go-between agrees to provide the song he wrote for her to the friend, but is concerned that he not hurt her when she falls in love with him. Once again, the instrumental arrangements and production choices provide a rich texture that adds much to the song's story.

If you're wondering what that song the guy wrote for the girl sounded like, you don't have to wait long. "Bike Trip" actually is that song (and I swear it sounds like something that Stephen Duffy might have written), though it certainly stands on its own merits, a dulcet love song for the ages. Stevie Black provides an Indian sraj coda.

Swirsky takes a Lennon-ish tone in "It's Always The Same," shedding musical light on the indecision of life, the difficulty of writing and holding on to dreams and goals, the love-hate relationship every artist goes through with his/herself. Did I mention this one also was short and sweet?

"Ordinary Man" is a musical argument that contends quiet is the new loud. This ordinary man rescinds his former dreams of fame, trades his cellphone for a book of poetry, and emerges an artist content with the simple pleasures of life.

The closing song (also the record's longest) is "Butterfly on Jupiter," a paean to the sweet comforts of home amid the frenetic calling of interplanetary fame: "And I feel like a butterfly on Jupiter, lost and all alone / So beautiful, but you know I'd rather be somewhere near my home." John Fields (yes that John Fields) lends some impressive bass guitar work, while Andy Sturmer contributes backing vocals.

Swirsky is a talented performer, but he benefits from surrounding himself with superb musicians (including Tommy Barbarella, Jimmy Coup, Brian Gallagher, Justin Meldal-Johnsen, Chris Testa and Paul Trudeau, along with those already mentioned above). The end product is phenomenal - a stellar debut by any measure and one that will bring a smile to many a listener.

Instant Pleasure is a fine testament to Seth Swirsky's talents as a songwriter, lyricist, guitar player and vocalist. Perhaps he should have been singing his own songs sooner than this, but I for one am grateful regardless. My only real criticism is the length of the CD - the whole thing runs just under a half hour. Still, these eleven memorable songs capture moods and nuances of the artistic life though the twin gifts of catchy melody and harmonies. Since it's so short but so sweet, I suppose the only remedy is to listen twice as much.

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The Zinedines
Take Me Take Me

(Rainbow Quartz)

Release Date: October 5, 2004

www.rainbowquartz.com

I truly wonder whether flight attendants ask people to set their watches back thirty-five years before departing their planes in Spain. The proliferation of retro bands to be found there is staggering. The Zinedines now take their rightful place in the Rainbow Quartz roster alongside fellow countrymen Sidonie, Gallygows, The Gurus and The Winnerys, specializing in a neo-psychedelic sound reminiscent of the late 1960s.

Take Me Take Me is a fun collage of retro sounds featuring sitar accompaniment and luxuriant harmonies added to the standard Britpop assemblage of guitars, drums and keyboards. The songs are sung in English.

The Zinedines are a quartet fronted by the brothers Martinez. Manel Martinez, the songwriter, does lead vocals, rhythm guitar and keyboards, while brother Miquel provides lead guitar, sitar, tamboura and vocals. Juanjo Tomas sings and plays bass guitar, and Marti Vellespir rounds out the group, singing while handling drums and percussion. Formed in 1998 in Wall (Majorca), the brothers Martinez formerly had been in The Frankenbooties (and Miquel also had been guitarist in a band called Sexy Sadie).

Their sounds recall the Beatles at times, the Byrds at others, with a bit of the Who thrown in for good measure (although the harmonies have a touch of Teenage Fanclub to them).

The guitars are powerful at times, and the sound is energetic and playful overall.

Named after the world-renowned soccer star Zinedine Zidane (currently of Real Madrid), the band profess to handle their musical sounds much the way their field general namesake handles the ball.

These dozen tracks are pleasant and convincing, though there are some odd things you need to know beforehand. There are two versions of the song "Diggin' Everything" (and the second offers more sitar). The track listings on the inside and the outside of the CD packaging are completely different (the actual music seems to follow the outside track listing, though it left me wanting to hear the curiously named missing track "Let Me Sleep Beside Your Mother").

The strong "Twice Upon A Time" leads the proceedings, standard Rickenbacker-laced fare that recalls McGuinn and his compatriots of way back when. This infectious track features delicious harmonies and plenty of jangly guitar.

The title track is a bouncy bit of psychedelia that suggests an unusual outing: "Take me on a trip across the sun / take me even if I'm going to burn / Do you think we should go at night? / 'Cause the sun turns out its light." It's good, simple, harmonic fun that treads into Cream-type musical fare at times, and has a little musical coda tacked on to it.

One of my favorites is "I'm Not Me," featuring a harmonic infusion of "yeah yeah yeah"s driven by impressive bass guitar lines. This is one of those songs that makes you want to "tune in, turn on and drop out."

Sitar and more impressive bass surrounds the melody in "Diggin' Everything" (though it truly dominates in "George Harrison-style" second version of this song that ends the CD). "I Know Your Bird" is pleasant enough, offering some rhythmic changes amid yet more psychedelic fare that bears a vague resemblance to "In A Gadda Da Vida."

"Together" is a warm harmonic offering that sounds like a cross between something light from either the group America or Bread and something a bit late Beatle-ish. More Beatle sounds are heard on the affable "We All Look Quite Good."

"Garage Flying Saucers Stoning" wins for best title. This song about playing high, gazing at the sky and seeing monkeys all around could be a fine advertisement for what happens after irresponsible drug use.

"Over You" and "Still Running" are slower tempo numbers, while "It's All Around You" kicks it up a notch on the rock scale. The Zinedines really execute these sounds well, providing a convincing new version of what musically once was and in some parts of the world, still is.

In Spain it's still the summer of love, folks, and The Zinedines are a big part of it. If neo-psychedelic songs with plenty of guitars (and an abundance of sitars too), harmonies and rich melodies are your thing, *Take Me Take Me* will take you back in time, let you touch the sky, and return you in time for any important business you might have in the present.

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timewellspent
timewellspent

(Parasol)

Release Date: August 10, 2004

www.timewellspentmusic.com
www.parasol.com

Casey Fundaro spent three years working on this new musical project, pouring his heart and soul into every minute of it. Was it in fact "time well spent"? One listen and you'll know. The eponymous debut of timewellspent is a moody collection of ambient and orchestral pop vignettes, featuring floating quietly somber soundscapes that successfully mix musical influences from many disparate sources and eras.

Fundaro has been exposed to music his whole life. As the nephew of Three Dog Night vocalist Danny Hutton, the young Casey had an inside look at the music biz. He has been singing and playing drums in various bands over the years.

In the late 1990s, Fundaro was fronting the jangle guitar pop band Flamingo, known for a self-titled release and contributions to various compilations (including tributes to The Left Banke and Gene Clark). But his ideas for new music were different, and required new personnel. He placed a classified advertisement in a local paper, seeking South Florida musicians to help him realize his ideas.

Luckily, Christopher Moll answered the call. Moll had been a key member of the regional music scene for over a decade, fronting the Brit-pop inspired band 23. The fact that Chris plays several instruments and has a real passion for experimentation in recording and engineering made him the perfect complement to Fundaro.

As they started in on two years of recording music, timewellspent was born. They collaborated on music, with Fundaro penning lyrics, taking painstaking care in the sounds created, until this nuanced semi-shoegazey musical creation was ready to go. Fundaro does all vocals, some acoustic guitar and some drums, while Moll handles acoustic and electric guitar, pedal steel, piano, wurlitzer, farfisa organ, vibraphone, glockenspiel, percussion and various other sounds. Additional musicians were called in as needed (David Rubenstein on guitar, Jason Knapfel on bass, Mike Federline and Chris O'Malley on drums, Eddie Alonso on trumpet, James Gardner on piano and Rosemary Siemens on violin).

There is a wide range of instrumental sounds here, and the overall impression is that every one of them is controlled with care, that this is a labor of love for the two men creating it. Additionally, there was great care taken in the mixing and mastering from Thom Monahan (Pernice Brothers) and Jeff Lipton (Magnetic Fields) respectively.

The CD opens with "Hello" a short welcoming musical pastiche, then segues into "I Want To Tell You" (not related to the George Harrison/Beatles tune), a brief montage of a song about relating thoughts to the one that can set him free. The verses trip forward peacefully to a chorus that has a sweet dreamy jazzy lounge feel to it. There's some fine bass work, and Fundaro's vocals are gentle, almost fragile, helping express the tentative thoughts seeking communication.

"I Know You" is a slow-paced moody song, kind of Pink Floyd meets Radiohead, describing the ideal: "as simple as the way you are / so far from me a distant star / to hear you laugh / to see you smile / a part of you a little while / to share some time / connect with you / to reach for what's inside of you." Moll adds in plenty of ambient effects that give the song an ethereal, hypnotic quality.

A brief piano interlude segues the way into "Anyone To Be," a somber piano-driven song laced with regrets and sadness ("places that I know I'll never go") and a feeling of resignation. Again, Fundaro's quiet vocals express these feelings quite effectively, while Moll's dramatic arrangements fill the spaces in haunting and memorable ways.

Moll and Fundaro head into Burt Bacharach territory with the congenial "Probably." Perfect horns frame this retro-feeling song about friendship connecting: "sending out a message / a message to my soul / you probably do not know." It's very 1960s, and executed flawlessly - short and sweet.
Distant dreams are voiced in the simple and beautiful one-minute ballad "Millionaire." Piano and vocals are the bare bones in this touching plea: "I want to be someone you'll care about and love so much every day / I want to be a millionaire / maybe then I'll know you'll stay."

Miscommunication in relationships is the sad theme behind the minor-keyed "Sitting By The Window," wherein a woman, then a man each regret that certain "one" who has told them goodbye respectively. I guess it proves the theory that complicated minds often just get in the way of true love.
Another short emotional vignette, "Letting Go" employs backward electronic loops to point up its halting confessional quality, a brief tale of two who are lonely, hiding behind a wall of denial. It's spare electronica in the service of raw emotion, and haunting in its way.

Continuing along the lines of lonely self-confession, "Minor Poet" is the sung admissions of a man let down by his own dreams and is shutting down. Lush strings in the middle of the song add poignancy to what otherwise is a straightforward sad lament.

One of the longer songs here, "Effigy" turns the corner from the sadness into a more hopeful situation, yet remains rife with emotion. Here there is a laying down, a seeking of truth together: "our silence speaks so loudly / sounds will flow." Musically, there is a mesmerizing sort of baroque Beach Boys interlude that interweaves a capella vocal harmony with violin to great effect.

Another brief enchanting piano interlude paves the way toward the dulcet strains of "Deora," which serves as a sweet five-minutes worth of summing up all that's gone before. Here, on what really is the musical denouement of the album, there are more Brian Wilson-type backup vocals, more Bacharach-style horns, waves crashing in the distance and more, and a mellifluous convergence of all these sounds together into one deliciously hopeful hello and goodbye.

This leads to an actual musical farewell entitled "Goodbye" (yet another of the short and sweet variety) and an even briefer "Postlude" of piano that escorts the listener to the end of this journey.

While lesser craftsmen may have fallen into the thick syrup of being maudlin in handling such emotionally baring material, Moll and Fundaro manage to escape that fate with a light touch (both in musical choices and in timing - the whole collection clocks in at about 32 minutes). These brief orchestral sketches manage to encompass a broad variety of musical styles - from rock to pop to jazz to lounge to classical - in an ambient, reflective manner.

It's safe to say this music won't be everyone's cup of tea - for one, it's rather somber and quiet, contemplative and mostly minor-keyed, a far cry from upbeat tunes you can dance to. Consider it more musical poetry, sensitive and intelligent renderings of feelings captured successfully in true alternative/indie fashion, seemingly simple, but musically complex. Fans of this type of broodingly elegant, ethereal serenity will find it a fast favorite.

In the multi-layered soundscapes, you can hear how Fundaro and Moll have referenced their own favorites here: Air, Pernice Brothers, Belle and Sebastian, Wilco, Flaming Lips, Radiohead, Zumpano and others. timewellspent is an auspicious debut from two talented musicians who really put a lot of time and painstaking effort into getting exactly the quality sounds they desired. With the end product an intriguing and well-executed musical journey that examines relationships from the inside out, I'd have to say it was time well spent indeed.

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