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Owen | S/T

Elliott Smith on tranquilisers.
CD, Polyvinyl

Tekst: Wilko van Iperen

Publicatiedatum: 28 januari 2002

Owen's self-titled debut album, Mark Kinsella's (ex-American Football, Cap'n Jazz, Joan of Arc, and Owls) first solo outing, contains very serene indiepop. Kinsella recorded this album in his own home studio after being on tour opening for Rainer Maria. The man played every instrument himself and accounted for all of the vocals (except for some backings). There's no doubt about his ability to write songs: Some are even really beautiful, like 'Declaration Of Incompetence', which proves exactly the opposite. 'Places To Go' passes the test too. The problem with this album is that the repetitiveness of the guitar melodies becomes too much. Almost each song seems to have the same chord progressions from beginning to end. The songs are like soundscapes without any variation, in such a way that the compositions lack power. Owen sounds like Elliott Smith on tranquilisers. If he had just put some more upbeat songs on this record, it would be much easier to digest. Most of the songs don't have any drums on them, or they jump in much too late to give it that extra push. In the end, the whole album seems to be just one very long song. This is probably meant to be this way, because most of the songs just turn into the next one; after 'Most Days And' follows 'Most Nights'. Kinsella doesn't really sing, but breathes with his just-out-of-bed voice, which doesn't help a lot. The lack of tension and variety within and between songs is the main problem of this piece of work. It's too soft and too predictable, and that's a pity, because Kinsella can do it and does it by fits and starts. I hope he gets back to indierock, because this can't keep me awake.

http://www.kindamuzik.net/recensie/owen/s-t-895/895/
Meer Owen op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/owen