| DELUSIONS
OF ADEQUACY, ROCHESTER, NY
"PICK OF THE WEEK" DECEMBER 24, 2004
http://www.adequacy.net/review.php?reviewid=5018
DOUG
GILLARD - Salamander (Pink Frost)
File Under:
Solo projects by overlooked members of iconic bands
RILY: The Thorns, Tom Petty, Mathew Sweet, Post-Replacements Westerberg
See Also: By Doug Gillard: Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department
(Fading Captain Series, #4)
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Out of the blathering ashes of Guided By Voices' largely disappointing
farewell tour comes the suddenly bandless guitarist Doug Gillard,
playing nearly all his own instruments, writing his own songs, and
churning out Salamander, a sly and slippery bit of accomplished
pop. Of course, we have only good things to expect from Gillard,
whose guitar work did much keep GBV relevant all these years. What
no one could justifiably expect, though, is just how sweetly melodic
Salamander actually is.
Deftly swinging a voice around that¹s one part Tom Petty, one
part low-voiced Mathew Sweet, Gillard¹s tunes - most notably,
"Valpolicella" - are built around melodies as strong as
they are infectious. The fun here, especially in "The Wind
& Me," is the fun of song itself. Nearly devoid of splintered
guitar licks and warbled cries of reverb, Salamander prefers to
bask in the sunny light of vocal harmony. Even the mildly distorted
thrump of "Give Me Something" and its anthemic invocation
of "Give me something that is true" succeeds more as sugary
falsetto strung over Gillard¹s guitar work.
Gillard¹s melodic sensibility falters on Salamander¹s
dirges, "Momma" and "Blockout." While one can
sense solid songs ekeing their way out behind Gillard¹s bare
acoustic strums, these tracks are held back by Gillard¹s vocal
accents, which vacillate between being vaguely and comically British.
Harmony, at least in the music industry, seems to be back in full
force. Recently, The Thrills, Rouge Wave, and countless others have
been harvesting the fertile ground of the layered vocal harmonies
of the 60s and 70s. Gillard¹s 14-track debut, which may have
guitar melodies as strong as its vocal melodies, seems to prove
that the resurgence of harmony as the crucial center of pop songwriting
is a renaissance worth heralding. Many of Salamander¹s tunes
are sure to last beyond this year¹s chic-sugar revival.
-- Ryan McCarthy
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