tense forms reviews

Casey Meehan
Violet
Tense Forms

Format Reviewed: CD

A word to the wise for all of you aspiring musicians out there: make sure that Windows Media Player isn’t telling lies about you.

If the unsuspecting record reviewer, for instance, inserts Casey Meehan’s excellent album Violet into his computer’s DVD-ROM drive and launches said program, the album information that WMP accesses (from whatever magical source) will assign the disc to the world’s most pariahfied genre, Easy Listening. Recoiling in horror, said reviewer might quickly move this (once again, excellent, and moreover quite original) album to the bottom of his reviewing pile.

The reviewer in question was saved from just this course of action by another of Windows Media Player’s features, Auto-Play (Brett, for the love of God, download a better player app — Ed.). Before he could eject the disc, the rock ‘n klezmer strains of excellent opener “The Marigny” were wafting through his headphones, and the edgy guitar slab underpinning all of the cool-as-hell baritone sax, clarinet and vocals was more than enough to assure him that the mistake was in the database.

From the seedier side of New Orleans, Meehan goes immediately to church. It seems, at least for the length of the second track, that Mr. Meehan is a member in good standing of the First Baptist Church of The Blessed Tom Waits, as he and Ms. Sarah Renee Bertsch inform us of their intention to “hunt my redemption with a shovel and a chain” over a swampy mishmash of revival furor and imprecations.

At about this point, you might find yourself ready to send off an angry e-mail to Mr. Gates, demanding that he remedy his company’s mischaracterization of an impressive young artist (Note to self: Must explain to Brett how online music databases work. — Ed.). And no one would blame you, especially after enjoying the transcendent, fuzzed-out bliss of “Wounds”, with its tom-heavy chorus intro and complicated, proggy bridge. Or the Primo Levi-referencing ruminations of “Who Will Be Saved”. Or the keyboard-led raveup of “Do Right”. But then, as you listen to the murder fantasy of “Every Star That Shines” (which would make an excellent compare-and-contrast study with Radiohead’s similarly Dixieland-referencing “Life In A Glass House”), you’ll realize that you have better things to do, like listen to the album again. And again.

Perhaps, for the most metal-addicted among us, Meehan and company’s complex, multifaceted, tracks (like the funky Rhodes piano-and clarinet intro to the instrumental “Via Deception”) are indistinguishable from Barry Manilow, Air Supply, John Tesh, Kenny G and all of the other (what’s the word?…oh, yes) shit that makes Easy Listening such a black hole on your radio dial. Then again, maybe the person who created Violet‘s database record has a tin ear. Whatever the reason, hopefully Meehan and his band’s skillz will overcome their misclassification and ensure that this album gets the receptive ears, and the glowing reviews, it deserves.

— Brett McCallon