Brendan Benson doesn’t do anything the simple way.<\/p>\n
That much is clear when you consider the career of a guy whose
\nprevious two albums are both regarded as virtual lost classics, who
\nwas dropped by a major label (Virgin) only to be resigned eight
\nyears later, and whose intensely realized studio perfectionism
\ndoesn’t really allow for the concept of deadlines.<\/p>\n
Benson is a retrophile pop alchemist of the first order, the
\nmusical bastard son of Paul McCartney, Jimmy Page, Stevie Wonder
\nand every great melodic Brit-rock band of the past forty years. He
\nis also a studio experimentalist supreme, a self-producing virtual
\none-man band who calls for help only when he absolutely needs it,
\nand decorates each song with layer upon layer of intriguing sonic
\nstrata, adding bells or percussion or warm synth textures to his
\ncore guitar crunch.<\/p>\n
Whether or not he is actually physically related to Lenny
\nKravitz, I will leave to others to determine. What he is, on
\nThe Alternative To Love<\/i>, is a meticulous craftsman working
\nin the medium of late ’60s-early ’70s classic rock.<\/p>\n
Highlights include the sing-songy bells-and-guitars melody of
\n“Cold Hands (Warm Heart)”; the smart-alecky lyric, power-pop rhythm
\nand goofy retro synths of “Feel Like Myself”; the airy Supremes
\nbackbeat-and-tambourine opening to “The Pledge”; the supple
\npiano-based melodies of “Biggest Fan”; and the brawny, Lennyesque
\nguitar lines of “Between Us.”<\/p>\n
The title track is particularly appealing, opening acoustic
\nbefore building nicely as musical details (bluesy rhythm guitar,
\nlayered harmony vocals, harmonica) are gradually added. The vocal
\nis among his best as well, nimbly navigating a dense rumination on
\nromantic failure that’s full of witty rhymes.<\/p>\n
In places Benson reminds me of Fountains Of Wayne in his
\ndedication to craft and the variety of textures he adds to the
\nbasic paradigm of propulsive power-pop. What’s missing for the most
\npart is FoW’s smirky sense of humor, and while Benson’s general
\nearnestness has its own appeal, my one criticism would be that he
\nsometimes seems to be trying a little too obviously hard to be
\nartful.<\/p>\n
\nThe Alternative To Love<\/i> is a lovingly assembled disc
\npopulated with familiar but fresh arrangements and melodies that
\nconsistently entertain. I wouldn’t call it a masterpiece, but it’s
\nan alternative well worth exploring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":27250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7226],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-38604","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-brendan-benson","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38604"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}