Heal
24 June 2014
Dead Oceans
3.5 stars out of 5
Heal, the debut LP
by Strand of Oaks, kicks off with “Goshen ’97,” which sounds at first like a
lost Dinosaur Jr. track (except for the very obvious drum machine). One look at
the credits reveals why: the lead guitar work is provided by J. Mascis. It’s
just one element in Indiana songwriter Timothy Showalter’s musical periodic
table—the next couple of tracks, “Heal” and “Same Emotions,” belong to the
Noble New Wave Gasses (though they’re not exactly inert—okay, bad metaphor;
sorry). Throughout the album Showalter switches between Crazy Horse-tinged
guitar rock and ‘80s AT40 pop, which, in the end, is perhaps less bizarre a
juxtaposition as it seems.
Despite the pop-under-crazy-guitars first half of the
record, the centerpiece of the album—the epic “JM,” a tribute to Songs: Ohia
leader Jason Molina—strikes a very different chord. (Oh! I’m horrible, folks.
Be glad you don’t have to work with me. Or date me.) On it, through his
soloing, Showalter reveals his love for Neil Young, and then fully embraces
said love on the equally sprawling “Mirage Year.” “I’m giving up getting over
you,” Showalter sings on the closing “Wait for Love,” another tribute to ‘80s
pop.
Each new generation explores the ‘80s and returns with their
own reconstructed version of it (all of which are less about the ‘80s as they
are about the decade they live in themselves). While ten years ago Franz
Ferdinand, Interpol, and a host of others explored the post-punk and New Wave
movements of the first half of that fabled (snark alert!) decade, today Strand
of Oaks is adventuring over the long-discarded terrain of late-‘80s mainstream
pop. The difference is that post-punk and New Wave were considered at the time
(and still today) to be cool and exciting genres, while the stuff Showalter is
revisiting was never considered even remotely cool or exciting, not even (or
perhaps especially) at the time of its release. Despite this, Showalter’s
retro-melodies work, and work well. Heal
is a very contemporary, very listenable record. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I
have an intense urge to throw on Anita Baker’s Rapture and get down with my bad self.
reviewed by Richard Krueger
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