Published on Aug 21, 2003
Sometimes it’s all about expectations.
It’s taken me weeks of listening and a couple of long breaks to
get past my own in connection with this album, the debut disc from
the alliance of singer-songwriters Matthew Sweet, Shawn Mullins and
Pete Droge. And I’m not alone — both critics and fans of the
individual artists involved have been challenged by this album.
The issue is the same for me — an avowed Shawn Mullins fan —
as for admirers of Sweet and Droge. Each has developed an
appealingly quirky, highly individual approach to their solo work;
it’s part of what makes them worth following. Here, by contrast,
the individual musical personalities of Sweet, Mullins and Droge
are almost undetectable. Ten of the 13 tracks on the album are
co-credited to all three, and ninety percent of the vocals are done
in full harmony. In banding together, the three have largely
surrendered their individuality in favor of a collective style
that’s distinctly different from their individual efforts.
There’s the hurdle, then, and here’s the punchline — given the
chance to, the Thorns soar right over it.
Taking as their models ’70s harmony groups like Crosby Stills
& Nash and America, the Thorns wrap their voices around one
another and build a series of little cathedrals of sound on a
folk-rock foundation. A perfect example is the wistful “I Can’t
Remember,” whose slumbering melody swells under the power of their
voices meshing into one of those constructs that feels bigger on
the outside than it is on the inside.
It’s the kick-off, Byrds-y “Runaway Feeling” that sets the tone
for the album, though, with its loping verses and chiming-guitar
choruses finished off with cheeky Beach Boys harmonies. Later on,
“Now I Know” takes the boys deeper into
Pet Sounds territory, setting their three-member choir
against nothing but strings and letting the listener simply wallow
in their perfect tone. Still, for pure “wow” factor, the highlight
has to be their dead-on cover of the Jayhawks’ “Blue,” where their
three voices triangulate like precision-guided fireworks over cello
and organ.
On the other hand… about three-quarters of the way
through this disc, the Thorns start to sound like they may be a bit
of a one-trick pony. Yeah, “Long, Sweet Summer Night” has a great
little melody, and the vocals on “I Told You” are rich as ever, but
these tracks already sound familiar, like something you just heard
a few minutes before. The only real variety in the first ten tracks
is the funked-up oddity that is “Thorns,” whose chief purpose seems
to be to provide a caption for the cover photo (“Thorns / Keep
walking away from it all”). These sequencing choices become that
much more puzzling when the Thorns and producer Brendan O’Brien
(Pearl Jam, Train, Bruce Springsteen) load up the tail end of the
album with two considerably heavier — and quite well-crafted —
rock tracks, “Such A Shame” and “I Set The World On Fire.” Why
these two don’t show up sooner on the track list is a mystery.
If, like me, you were a fan of Sweet, Mullins and/or Droge as a
solo artist who finds yourself initially disoriented, maybe even
disappointed by this album’s sound, my advice is to give it a
chance to grow on you. Stepping back until it was possible to set
expectations aside and hear this album with fresh ears made all the
difference for this listener.