Ben Kweller - Ben Kweller (ATO)
3/5
By: Charlie Potter
Within seconds of this eponymous album beginning the sleigh bells and chimes of 'Run' are blatantly reminiscent of The Beach Boys. It's is a nice trick, and one Kweller pulls throughout the record, making it sound like albums your parents once listened to so you instantly feel warm and comfortable. When it doesn't sound like music your mama would like, it largely sounds like mid 90's pop grunge, particularly Weezer, although it seems unfair to say so as 'Run' has a lot less in common with Cuomo's boys than his last LP 'Sha Sha'.
The sentiment of a lot of these songs is very simple, and whether that makes for tired themes or classic stories is touch and go. Listening to these lyrics is quite easy, and you certainly wouldn't write them down and read them out at a poetry evening, but Ben can be forgiven for writing such straight forward prose because it's not made for close scrutinising, only designed for you to just be able to pick them up without having to listen to them too closely. Also, this album isn't designed to be the intricate story of the life of Ben Kweller - this is an album for the people. For example, the song 'Magic' is about how he thinks a girl is, well, magic (I think he means Debbie McGee), and though we've heard this all before, we have all thought about Debbie in that way. And that's how this song works - it makes you think of Debbie, or the time that you thought of Debbie in that way. It doesn't make you think of any scenario involving Ben Kweller.
That being said, there are points on this album were Ben has something a bit more interesting and personal to say. This is generally when he starts singing in the past tense, particularly in the song 'Thirteen', and we hear a side of Ben that is a bit more personal. Whilst you still know vividly what it is he's singing about, it just seems to go a little bit deeper. Ultimately, these are the stronger lyrics of the album.
One song that breaks this rule is 'Penny on a Train Track'. Here Ben proves that he doesn't always use all the old used lines to get you to sing a song, and it's as such a likely candidate for single. Tracks like it undoubtedly wouldn't work, unless they were sung whole heartedly, and thankfully, that they are. At the beginning it sounds like it's going to be one of those albums where the singer just passably says the words to the tune, but in the appropriate points, Ben makes sure he gives the vocal the edge it needs.
If there is a theme to this album, it's definitely running. From the opening track 'Run' and throughout the album Kweller keeps coming back to the idea of leaving town, and in fact even in songs that aren't about leaving town he'll drop in a little line about leaving town. Basically, Kweller is irresponsible and wants you to be the same so he can feel better about himself, but some how I think the potential audience for this album are the most sensible people in the world and have a great deal of civil pride, although they may romanticize about leaving town. Who doesn't?
With that in mind, 'Ben Kweller' is the sort of album you put on when your moving into a new house, or putting stuff into the attic. It's poppy enough to put on loud and be in another room, and it only takes a couple of listens to get the basic idea of the songs. Essentially the idea is that you might be struggling to move a box somewhere, and accidentally, something might falls out in the move - something from a friend or a long forgotten photo. You take a break from moving your boxes about and you look at your photo, whilst Ben's lurking in the background, singing some catchy lines that get your memory going all over the place.
The fascinating instrumentation here and there adds a great deal of life to the album, and trust me, by the time you've made it all the way to 'Magic', you need something like a glockenspiel to keep you going. Unfortunately, it still isn't enough to match up to the diverse piece of pop rock genius that is 'Sha Sha'. Kweller has traded in the fun pop and rock guitars for mature laid back song writing, and respect must be given for finding a sound that is slightly more his, even if it is a frankensteinian combination of other peoples'. But although this album is quite a grower, it lacks 'Sha Sha's diversity. Instead, most of the tracks are quite similar, and the biggest change comes in the form of some slower songs later on which would be fine if they created the dynamic shift you really desire from them, but ultimately, it start to lag a bit. It's saved in the nick of time however, Kweller deciding to equal to rock out days of 'Sha Sha' with the excellent 'This is War'.
Your Feedback
Login to post your comment