There are many people who feel that rock music, for the most
\npart, has grown quite stale. Even alternative rock, once hailed as
\nthe font of creativity in the early ’90s, isn’t taking nearly half
\nthe chances it once did. Even I, the eternal optimist (stop
\nlaughing<\/i>, already!!!), haven’t found that much to smile
\nabout in the world of alternative rock, though there have been
\nexceptions.<\/p>\n
Fleming & John are a duet who go completely against the
\ngrain of rock today. They didn’t need a fancy studio to record in;
\nthey used their living room. They dared to throw in instruments
\nthat some of us have only heard stories about; with the exception
\nof “Good Vibrations”, when was the last time you heard someone use
\na theremin? (How many of you have even
\nheard<\/i> of the theremin?)<\/p>\n
It takes guts to record an album like their latest release,
\nThe Way We Are<\/i>, and throw it to the wolves for mass
\nconsumption these days. We should be thankful that Fleming
\nMcWilliams and John Mark Painter – with a little help from a few
\nfriends, including Ben Folds – had those kind of guts, ’cause this
\nalbum is amazing.<\/p>\n
McWilliams’s vocal style is a cross between Lisa Loeb’s
\nschoolgirl-ish charms, Alanis Morissette’s snarl and Tori Amos’s
\noctave range. At first, listening to McWilliams may be a shock to
\nthe system, but one quickly grows accustomed to her vocal style. On
\ntracks like “Sssh!”, “The Pearl” and “Ugly Girl”, her talent shines
\nforth brightly. Even on a silly little ditty about our obsession
\nwith the remote control and how our lives revolve around it
\n(“That’s All I Know”), McWilliams transcends the subject matter and
\npours her emotions into the track.<\/p>\n
Acting as her musical foil is John Mark Painter, an accomplished
\nmusician in his own right (you may remember him from
\nSwamp Ophelia<\/i> by the Indigo Girls). But more than just a
\nguitar and production wizard, Painter works instruments like
\nvibraphone, balalaika, theremin, oud… good grief, is there
\nanything this guy
\ndoesn’t<\/i> know how to play?!? Thing is, he knows all these
\ninstruments well, so the end result sounds like an expert on each
\ninstrument who had spent their life learning them.<\/p>\n
Musically,
\nThe Way We Are<\/i> runs the course from soft ballad (“Don’t Let
\nIt Fade Away,” “Comfortable”) to a twisted tango (“Devil’s Food”)
\nto all-out alternative mayhem (“Ugly Girl”, “Sssh!”, “Sadder Day”),
\nand all the while, the stylistic shifts sound completely
\nnatural.<\/p>\n
Fleming & John even go so far as to point out to the
\nlistener there’s a hidden track – oddly enough, it’s called “The
\nHidden Track”. Nice touch. (For the record, it’s a “lounge lizard”
\nversion of “I’m So Small”.)<\/p>\n
Musically speaking,
\nThe Way We Are<\/i> has everything going for it. Too bad most
\nconsumers and radio stations won’t have the balls to touch this
\none. And that, kids, is a God-Damn Shame; this is the type of album
\nthat can make listening to music a religious experience. Two strong
\nsongs – “The Pearl” and “Ugly Girl” – have already been pegged as
\nsingles; if only radio would have the courage to program this
\none.<\/p>\n
I’m challenging all stations out there – and I know there are a
\nfew of you reading these pages, you don’t fool me. Pick any of
\nthese tracks – “Sssh!”, “Ugly Girl,” “The Pearl” or “Comfortable” –
\nand put it on medium rotation. Then, watch the phones light up,
\ndemanding more.<\/p>\n
\nThe Way We Are<\/i> is an album that isn’t afraid to take chances
\nin a cookie-cutter music industry. Fleming & John might never
\ngain superstardom because of this, but at least they’ve kept their
\nmusical integrity – and, to some of us, that’s even more important
\nthan huge sales. Of course, if they catch on like I hope they do,
\nbrisk sales wouldn’t hurt, either.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6151],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-38927","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-fleming-john","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38927","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38927"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38927"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}