Reviews
King of Spain
Entropy
Digg this review.
Add to del.ico.us.Review Date: 2008-04-07
There is something unsatisfying about King of Spain's music: it leaves the listener yearning for a sense of completion, a sense of fulfillment. I suspect that’s exactly the feeling that Matt Slate, the musician behind King of Spain, desires to evoke. Entropy is both "a doctrine of inevitable social decline and degeneration" and King of Spain's debut full-length album.
The first track contains the unusual blend of acoustic and electronic sounds that characterizes the rest of the album. A two-note guitar part meets a series of sung vocal noises; and together they anchor the track. The song swells in an orchestral crescendo, without ever reaching a pinnacle that would overwhelm the track's simple base elements.
Slate's voice is low and subdued, almost basic. His simple singing style allows for the multiple vocal layers that are present on almost every track. Track four is a good example of this and it is also one of the most up-tempo songs on the album. It has an interesting rhythm section: shaker and multiple acoustic guitar parts.
"Seamless, Spotless Sidewalks" has a haunting whistle part, which consists of a simple repeating melody. During the verse the whistle fades out: it may still be there, but is so soft that it's almost imperceptible. This leaves the listener straining to hear, trying to discern whether they can hear it. This is probably the strongest example of the effect that King of Spain is trying to create: an active listener longs for the satisfaction of the simple melody, even when it has been removed.
The lyrics of seventh track, "Useless, Mostly", contemplate the creative process. Slate sings, "maybe I'm trying to weed out the unnecessary" over a base of simple repeating music. On paper, those lyrics could serve as the band's musical mission statement. The song's lyrics continue along a similar vein, exhorting listeners to give up participating in the ritual of life because "maybe then we'll realize how useless everything we're going through is". King of Spain paints a fairly bleak picture of the world: yet his Wasteland is populated with some very pretty guitar riffs. Like any good post-modernist, he is aware of the society's decline, but still makes music and thus still feels hopeful.
If you join King of Spain's musical journey, you will not be rewarded. It's not that the music isn't dynamic, because it's layered and interesting. However, every single track refuses to push through to the musical climax that the listener expects. This leaves me unsure whether or not I like this music. It doesn't pander to expectations, yet the longing it evokes is not to stop listening. It's just longing. Entropy tries to be experimental, acoustic, electronic, bleak and beautiful all at once; and it works, almost.
Score: 7
- Lisa Gasson