If Josh Joplin has never written a musical\u2014and it\u2019s impossible to say if he has or hasn\u2019t, since his online presence over the years has typically been more mystifying than illuminating\u2014I think he really should. There is an inherent theatricality to both his singing style and his songs that seems like it would really lend itself to the stage.<\/p>\n
This thought occurs a couple of tracks into my first listen to Joplin\u2019s early indie album Projector Head<\/i>, which I had never heard of before last year, despite it being one of at least five albums that Joplin apparently released independently before Artemis Records snatched up and reissued his sixth, Useful Music<\/i> in 2001. This was faintly astonishing news for someone who\u2019s considered himself a fan for 20 years, but between Joplin\u2019s penchant for mystery and my own for general cluelessness, here we are.<\/p>\n
Projector Head<\/i> isn\u2019t an album that feels designed to attract label backing; more like the opposite. It\u2019s stubbornly intellectual, sardonic and eccentric in a business that prizes none of those things (okay, maybe a little eccentricity is cool\u2026 but only if it comes pre-packaged with hits<\/i>). What comes through loud and clear is that Joplin has always put artistry first, with little interest in conforming to norms and expectations. While it\u2019s true that the one time he bent that way a little, he scored a #1 AAA hit with \u201cCamera One,\u201d off the aforementioned Useful Music<\/i>, little evidence exists that he had any desire to repeat the experience.<\/p>\n
Projector Head<\/i> finds Joplin leading a trio with Geoff Melkonian on bass and guitars and Jason Buecker on drums, the former of whom remained a collaborator through Joplin\u2019s subsequent two-album foray with Artemis. Though small in numbers, they make a big noise by layering electric over Joplin\u2019s acoustic in places, though never so much that it distracts from the central focus of these tunes: Jopin\u2019s artful, intense lyrics and instantly memorable voice.<\/p>\n
The lyrics on Projector Head<\/i> in fact often feel as if they were lifted directly from the notebook of either a therapist or an existentialist slam poet, or possibly both:<\/p>\n
\u201cSomewhere between feeling and not feeling \/ I find myself \/ And I am someone else\u201d<\/i>
\u201cLife is harder than you ever thought it would be\u201d
\u201cI am not only what you make me\u201d
\u201cTurning and burning and yearning to understand\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
His alternately penetrating and inscrutable\u2014but never less than artful\u2014lyrics are supported by upbeat folk-pop\/indie rock musical backing, with a somewhat progressive flavor to its sometimes abrupt changes of tempo and feel. Still, the greatest stylistic variable is Joplin\u2019s vocals, which veer from normal singing to speed-rapping to anguished screams within a matter of a few lines, restless and untethered to the point where they come off as a distinctive form of performance art. Joplin doesn\u2019t just sing these songs; he inhabits each one\u2019s narrator like a method actor.<\/p>\n
While the entire album feels of a piece, like a 12-act play, several moments stand out. Opener \u201c10 Feet Small\u201d is a tour de force of alienation, with brooding, skittery drums underpinning a foreboding soliloquy that builds and swerves until it eventually appears to end badly for our narrator: \u201cLooking out my window high above \/ I am ten feet small \/ Suddenly I feel and I am alive \/ And I see me fall, see me fall.\u201d<\/p>\n
On \u201cSleep,\u201d Joplin manages to manifest both calmness and tension in early spoke-sung lines like \u201cThis is it, all that I have \/ Old memories, stored away like photographs,\u201d before the dreamy pre-chorus creeps in and Joplin moves to singing in full voice about not being able to sleep at night. By the end the song has built into a full rock arrangement, soaring to pleasing heights.<\/p>\n
\u201cWeebles\u201d finds Joplin\u2014whose distinctions include a voice that often sounds eerily like Michael Stipe\u2014at his Stipe-iest as he navigates a surging melody whose chorus punchline consists of the old toy tag line \u201cWeebles wobble but they don\u2019t fall down.\u201d Sure, yeah, fine, why not? Especially on a song in which his vocal gymnastics become so unhinged near the end that you begin to think of David Byrne rather than that REM guy. <\/p>\n
\u201cGet Up\u201d moves from a blue-eyed mumblerap opening to a Byrne-esque spitting-out-the-word rant on the verses before sliding into a hooky chorus. This call to action ultimately finds Joplin urging his audience over a breakdown: \u201cWhere there\u2019s war, turn away \/ Where there\u2019s hatred, turn away \/ And destruction, turn away \/ And create something beautiful.\u201d Finally, closer \u201cSo Real\u201d channels the same sort of \u201ca life observed\u201d feel as \u201cCamera One\u201d with Joplin declaring that \u201cIt\u2019s all so real, like a movie\u201d before commenting dryly that \u201cI think I\u2019ve seen this one before.\u201d <\/p>\n
What distinguishes Joplin from other earnest coffeehouse-philosopher types is both the depth of his lyrics\u2014which are meticulously crafted and genuinely poetic\u2014and the commitment of his performances. From the anguished cries that close \u201cMr. Television\u201d to the wild-eyed-preacher overtones of \u201cUnderstand\u201d to the 100-proof intensity of \u201cOnly,\u201d he leaves nothing on the field, track after track.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, the two songs here that feel maybe slightly undercooked by comparison are \u201cDrove,\u201d possibly the most pop-leaning tune here, and the somber self-examination \u201cI\u2019ve Changed.\u201d The latter would reappear in not one but two new versions on Useful Music<\/i>, as if to deliver proof of its opening line: \u201cI\u2019ve wanted \/ Perfection \/ From every song I\u2019ve ever sung.\u201d<\/p>\n
Projector Head<\/i> showcases an artist still in the process of both defining and refining his voice, but already well on his way, and eager to take his audience along for the ride. As much as I might have wished for greater commercial success for Joplin\u2014who\u2019s mostly abandoned both music and his stage name for independent film production<\/a> these days\u2014I have a sneaking suspicion that he harbors no regrets. It seems that\u2019s often how it is when you have an artistic vision so distinct and powerfully realized that any compromise is bound to feel like failure. No compromises whatsoever were made here, and that\u2019s a significant part of what makes Projector Head<\/i> as compelling a listen as it is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":34392,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[10690],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-46230","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-josh-joplin-band","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46230","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=46230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=46230"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=46230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}