FEATURED REVIEW.............................................................13 FEB 2006
 |
Artist:
THE MENDOZA LINE |
If Paul Westerberg and Neko Case cut an album together, chances are it’d sound something like Full of Light and Full of Fire. The seventh full-length release from the Brooklyn-based Mendoza Line finds the band in fine form. After a decade of shuffling (and several albums marred by uneven contributions), the Mendoza Line is finally thriving under the joint control of Timothy Bracy and Shannon McArdle.
For those unfamiliar
with the duo, their website [WWW.MENDOZALINE.COM]
lists Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, American Music Club, and the Replacements
as important developmental influences. No surprises there. Bracy’s
unique voice—or rather, his unique blend of Dylan’s and Paul
Westerberg’s voices—barely conceals his fondness for sneering
Minnesotans. While McArdle’s voice is luminous and incisive, Bracy’s,
in comparison, is adenoidal and full of affect. Maybe his voice naturally
meanders and garbles—as it does on the otherwise thoroughly fine
“Rat’s Alley”
[30-SECOND
REAL AUDIO CLIP]—but we’d be willing to wager that
what we have here is a well-studied vocal pose suffering under the weight
of influence. There’s no questioning Bracy’s enormous talents
as a songwriter and, admittedly, some of the songs benefit from the contrast
between McArdle’s precision and Bracy’s flawed maunder. Sometimes,
though, words benefit from articulation.
Articulation notwithstanding, Full of Light and Full of Fire is a stellar album. McArdle and Bracy deftly handle fraught and contentious topics with razor-sharp wit and clever conceits. The album’s leitmotif, if you will, is the abuse of power—be it on a domestic, national, or global scale. This recurring theme surfaces most notably on the infectious track “Name Names,” which serves as a reminder that the forces behind the House Un-American Activities Committee are alive and well today (and, in contrast to your run-of-the-mill New York Times op-ed piece, it does so with power chords). Catchy as all get-out, “Name Names” is—we’re pretty damn sure—the only pop song to mention both Clifford Odets and Elia Kazan in the same couplet. Somebody’s angling for a wiretap.
Other standout tracks
on the new album include “Catch a Collapsing Star”
[DOWNLOAD
FULL TRACK HERE] and the aforementioned “Rat’s
Alley.” All things considered, the band does a remarkable job of
varying registers and tempos without sacrificing continuity. The only
tune that seems a little out of step is the Ric Ocasek-inspired “Mysterious
in Black.” Drop that one, and the album’s near perfect.
In summation: Everyone at cheezeball.net agrees: if we had heard this album earlier, we certainly would have selected it as one of the top 10 alt.country releases of 2005. Go get yourself a copy. One cheezeball for “Mysterious in Black” and the anxiety of influence.
kw
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A NOTE ON THE RATING SYSTEM:
5 CHEEZEBALLS = UNLISTENABLE SCHLOCK
3 CHEEZEBALLS = A DIFFICULT SLOG
1 CHEEZEBALL = THE ODD FORGIVABLE MISSTEP
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