Clem Snide
End Of Love
»
Clem Snide
End Of Love
spinART, 2005
RiYL: Ryan Adams, Robbie Fulks, the Gourds |
Norton’s character is appropriately chastened, and goes on to torch his apartment, learn to enjoy getting the crap beaten out of him, foment a serious threat to public safety, etc., etc. The moral? Cleverness is a weak sister to creativity, determination, and skill, and if it’s all that props you up then you have a long way to fall. Few non-fictional people are teetering on the edge of a Fight Club-like catastrophic descent, but Tyler Durden’s question cuts to the quick for some of us real people regardless. How will being clever work out, you ask? Not particularly well, at least not by itself. Why the cinematic digression? Because Clem Snide’s End Of Love is quite the clever album. It’s replete with pop culture allusions, unexpected lyrical juxtapositions, and sarcastic takes on the old country warhorses, loneliness and heartbreak. It is clever enough to make it stand out, at least for a little while, from the rest of the acoustic tunes streaming out of the world’s coffee shops and small theaters. Accordingly, it’s a good listen, even if it isn’t particularly memorable.
It’s also an alt.country album, which means that it was made by a bunch of city folk and aspires to sound like an old-fashioned country record, but that its singer doesn’t have a thick Southern accent. Musically, it’s nice but unspectacular. It covers as much musical ground as it can without doing anything unusual or challenging, ranging from soft and melancholy hymns (“Made For TV Movie”) to country power ballads (“End Of Love”) to jokester folk stomps (“Weird”).
“Jews For Jesus Blues” is one of End Of Love’s clever gems. The song’s protagonist accepts Jesus as a savior because, he says, “I thought I was empty.”
Salvation isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, however, and, as singer-songwriter Eef Barzelay sings, “now that I’m found, I miss being lost.” It’s a professional folk composition, full of soothing finger-picking, soft percussion, and a raspy and moving refrain.
“Something Beautiful,” on the other hand, is lyrically cuter but a much less enjoyable listen. In it, Barzelay recites a list of the lovely things some unnamed lady makes him want to despoil. He aches, among other things, to fold a map improperly, to stain his new shirt, and to drink Lysol. The song is a gently-syncopated country cabaret number, ending with a muted electric-guitar howling that is as close as End Of Love gets to rock and roll. The song drags on, though, and he’s still reciting clever lyrics over the same repetitive melody long after it stops being entertaining.
At the other end of the spectrum, built upon quiet arpeggios and Barzelay’s throaty yell of “You’re falling asleep at the wheel,” “Collapse” is musically appealing, but its overwrought mentions of grass roots initiatives and pedophiles singing “You’ve Got A Friend” detract from its emotional power. And it doesn’t stop there: some of End Of Love’s other neat-o metaphors touch on German hip-hop, Isaac Newton’s sexual inexperience and mermaid suits.
The band’s fifth record has a lot of nice music, more than a handful of original turns of phrase, and a beautiful moment in Barzelay’s tiny harmony with a young girl at the end of “Made For TV Movie.” End Of Love is a polished effort, the work of an accomplished songwriter and a band that knows its sound. It’s also indisputably clever -- there’s no doubt that its craftsmen are accomplished and high-IQ’d observers of the human condition -- but cleverness never made great music, or great anything else, on its own. A few people will buy End Of Love and lots more would like it if they heard it, but, damningly, it will never be anyone’s favorite record.
JEFF GRAY | Jeff Gray used to be an important mover and shaker in Chicago, but gave all that up to live on a beach in rural Hawaii. You'll notice him if you're there, he's the one who's very tall and a little bit sunburned. His musical tastes tend towards the mainstream -- Phish, Radiohead, The Strokes -- but he'll argue to the death that those bands are mainstream because they're 100% awesome. Jeff's always on the lookout for the next great pop song, tidbits about Michigan football, and 80's action movies on cable.