Today I heard a Built to Spill album that won't be released until next year. How, you ask? Well, Built to Spill hails from right here in Boise, Idaho. One of the florists at the flower shop I work at received the tentative new album from Doug Martsch and let me hear it.
Doug Martsch and friends have reinvented themselves on their seventh album. After 2001's Ancient Melodies of the Future lacked something that I couldn't quite pinpoint, this new album has delivered that something in each and every note.
The album opens with an epic eight minute track presumably titled 'Going Against Your Mind.' Up tempo drums get it started, which is uncommon for BTS, and after a moment the guitars kick in. The noise they make, however, is unlike any noise BTS guitars have ever made. The florist was reminded of The Strokes, but this is so much better. The song alternates between urgent vocal work and engrossing jams that, despite being laced with reminders of the past, sound entirely fresh. I couldn't help but smile as I heard this tune a few months too early.
The closing song, which I'm guessing is called 'You Wait' or 'The Wait', is destined to go down as a BTS classic. Its up there with Car, Strange, The Plan, and the legendary live Cortez the Killer. The eight songs in between the first and last are BTS at its best. A few are some of the darkest that BTS has written, and the band handles this new territory with grace. They have also written one of the best guitar pop songs I've heard recently.
The album has much in common with 1999's Keep It Like A Secret and nothing really in common with Melodies. This is a very good thing. This doesn't mean that they've fallen back on their recipe for Keep It Like A Secret. The likeness stems from ten great songs, each one important on its own yet intricately involved in an overall work that sounds focused and instantly classic. These songs also contain extended jams that are never predictable, just as Secret did. But these jams are entirely new, and might even prove to be better. Don't miss this album when its released.
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