Lou Barlow – Goodnight Unknown
It’s hard to write a review of an album by someone considered by a lot of people to be something of a demi-god of his genre, particularly when your knowledge of his work is pretty thin. So I am warning anyone with a slightly more than healthy relationship with Sebadoh in particular to bear in mind before reading this that I really like One Part Lullaby by Folk Implosion, although I haven’t listened to it for ages and, despite the impassioned urgings of a succession of friends, barely know a thing about Sebadoh. In fact I haven’t really sat down and listened to any of their albums carefully, now that I think about it, although I’ve probably heard a fair bit in passing, over the years.
If this were a new album by a new band I’d never heard of, I have to confess that I really don’t know if I’d have given it enough time. I will admit that this benefitted from the Famous Person Benefit of the Doubt clause, which meant that I listened to it a few more times than I might have, giving it a little extra time to sink in.
Even so, I am not what you’d call smitten. It’s decent, the sound is good, and there are some really lovely songs, but I’ve listened to it through on many occasions now and only worryingly rarely do I get that ‘oh good, that song’ reaction that you get when songs have wormed their way into your subconscious.
In terms of stature and career path I find myself comparing Barlow to Stephen Malkmus, once of the equally-revered Pavement, although they both make rather different music. This is less eccentric or demanding of your attention than Malkmus’ work has generally been, and as such perhaps a little easier to dismiss without due attention. If I didn’t ‘know who this was’ then it’s entirely feasible I might simply have skipped over it as another reasonable but unremarkable indie album with the right general sound, but not enough character to the individual songs to let them really grab your attention.
And despite the good bits, I think that’s where I’d have to put my stake in the ground with Goodnight Unknown. Were he actually unknown I might never have given this more than a couple of listens, not least because as an album is it just far, far too long. Given that I have persevered with it I still don’t think there’s more than a small handful of songs on it which have enough in the simple department of hooks and melodies to really stick in my mind and get me humming along. In short, despite good moments, it just doesn’t grab me at all.
Lou Barlow – Goodnight Unknown
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