Despite their odd and laborious name, The Televangelist and the Architect are a simple, unassumingly decent alt-country outfit. The most remarkable thing about The Mass Exodus from California is songwriter Jerry Chen’s voice, which sounds like a charmingly awkward cross between Phil Elverum’s little-boy croon and the Unicorns’ bantering whines. The way he delivers smart lines like “I don’t mind if you’ve got nothing on your mind / then we can sit in the dark / My thoughts are completely clear,” will win your heart.
Occasionally, Chen tosses in a sharp, bluesy little hook into the mix, as on the stomping “The Birth of a Salesman”, or uses pretty, mournful horns to deepen the melancholy of the shimmering strings, as in “Corners/Fingers”. Throughout The Mass Exodus from California, he applies these tweaks to his simple, straightforward songs to make them that much more endearing. They don’t add up to a great collection of music, but they certainly mark Chen as a unique talent relative to the mass of mediocre alt-country bar bands now saturating the music landscape.
Chen’s songwriting ethic could stand a few changes — namely greater focus on direction and momentum. His arrangements are often pretty, and mostly competent, but not particularly powerful — usually due to the lack of a consistently strong melody. If he could ground his left-field folkie tendencies in some structural discipline, Chen might craft something of high character and high quality. He’s already nailed the character bit, but the quality is spotty
- Splendid E-Zine
March, 2005