Published on Jun 5, 2002
Mike Shellito is an interesting character – at least, that’s the
impression I get after multiple listens to
Ingredients, the independent release from Shellito.
Basically a two-man band – Shellito and Jeff Tanner, plus a gaggle
of guests – what you hear in these 12 songs is an interesting
mixture which is part Matthew Sweet, part Brian Wilson, and part
Captain Beefheart (in a pop-culture way). Shellito’s music doesn’t
give a damn about following formulas or even achieving commercial
success; these are songs which demand to be taken on their own
merits.
To be honest, that’s not the easiest thing to do – it certainly
won’t happen on the first listen. But if you stick with it
throughout the 38 minutes this disc plays,
Ingredients will eventually prove to be well worth the
effort. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here.
Shellito’s songwriting style is, to put it mildly, unnerving at
first. With sparse rhythm, acoustic guitars and layered vocals
repeating one verse and a sing-song laugh, “Orange Or Green” is
beautiful enough to keep your interest, but genre-bending enough to
leave you scratching your head wondering what’s going to come
next.
The fact is,
Ingredients doesn’t follow any set rules or expectations.
It’s almost as if the music is the muse, taking Shellito, Tanner
and the various guests on a trip wihout a roadmap. At times, this
can be especially rewarding; songs like “Jim” and “Tired” are
absolutely charming in their layered simplicity, and stand out as
being excellent efforts. Others, like “Smart People,” “Human” and
“Happy,” have their moments, but eventually fall short of the
bullseye (even though they register solid hits on the musical
target).
Yet there are times when I wish I understood what kind of a
point Shellito was trying to make. Songs like “Lima” seem to throw
together an inordinate amount of non sequiturs so that they become
a structured song. Another example: “Virgo Torpedo,” which features
over half the song using words that end with the “o” sound. Clever,
yes. Comprehensible, no.
And for all of the positives that
Ingredients has in the big picture, this disc just isn’t the
easiest for a listener to get comfortable with. Maybe it’s the
random generation of ideas that became song lyrics that threw me
the first six or seven listens; maybe it was trying to get past the
child-like innocence of certain parts of this disc to find a deeper
meaning. Maybe it just takes time to get used to Shellito’s style
of music.
Whatever the case,
Ingredients might not be the easiest recipe to follow, and
the end result might be an acquired taste, but it turns out to be
one that’s worth acquiring.