The 90′s lo-fi aesthetic carried the same message as punk rock had from the very beginning: anyone can make music. You don’t need skill, you don’t need money, and (unfortunately for a lot of bands) you don’t need talent either. The modus operandi was ‘do it as cheap and easy as possible.’ Buy some cheap fucking instruments and a rudimentary four-track and you’re half-way there. In the 80s, the K label made this sort of pop amateurism an artform in itself, not just a refuge for the monetarily challenged. Before too long bands like Pavement, Sebadoh and Guided by Voices were putting out widely loved albums with sound quality that was as piss-poor than anything since the 1950s.
Grand Unified Theory recorded their debut album in their living room. That type of informal egalitarianism may be a turn on for some, but the amateurism inherent may be a turn off for others. The band does make passable indie rock though, there’s very little to complain about. One of the few problems though is that the band tends to wear their influences much too obviously. At times they easily recall the sounds of The Good Life, Pavement and, most notably, Bright Eyes.
The album starts off promisingly with “Unclaimed Song #1″ a genuinely enjoyable pop song about the futility of originally. “Epilogue (Parts 1 and 2)” follows, using Cursive’s tension and Pavement’s unpredictable soft-loud dynamics to great effect. Past this though, the bands takes their ‘futility of originality’ message to heart and the album begins to sound too much like a Bright Eyes soundalike, especially in Jerry Chen’s uncertain vocals and introspective lyrics. Chen doesn’t need to sing like this though, he’s got a good voice that sounds best when he’s singing steady and strong. “The Plane Crash Marks the Time” would feel especially at home on a Saddle Creek release, with its minor key strumming, spare piano and a sad, wavering vocal melody straight off of Fever and Mirrors. Meanwhile “A Good Night’s Rest” recalls the raw but plaintive feel of Desaparecidos, the Bright Eyes’ sideproject. They even start to replicate themselves, using the same riff on “She Turned Him/On On/Him” as they used to open the album on “Unclaimed Song #1″.
It’s never any less than enjoyable and it’s frequently quite good, even impressive, considering the band’s modest means of recording. The band indulges in hero worship too frequently, but this was only their first album and that’s kind of expected. Obviously if Grand Unified Theory can put together a solid debut, it will be interesting to see how they grow and if they can establish an identity of their own, apart from the Omaha scene.
Grade: 3 out of 5
- exadore
Bornbackwards
Janurary 31, 2004