Doug Martsch has proven himself equally adept at clever indie pop and sprawling Youngian guitar heroics. While Martsch has always had a band around him, in the studio it was mostly Martsch - Eck at the controls capturing every note perfectly, letting Martsch architecturally plan every song. The new album You in Reverse is different in that it's much more of a jam session. Eck did not record it; each member wrote their own parts, adding a new guitarist and prominently featuring guest parts from Sam Coomes (organ/keyboard). While, naturally, the album comes closer to capturing Martsch's group live than any other studio album, surprisingly it does not diminish either part of Martsch's genius. He can still lay out some sweet guitar solos and the hooks are still there, although perhaps they aren't allowed to be the sole focus of any song.
A prime example is "Conventional Wisdom" which has about as deadly a guitar hook as you will witness in your life and Martsch's typical witty lyrics ("like why we always play to conventional wisdom/in a world that's just so un-con-ventional"). Through the first three minutes it is a wonderful little pop song. But then it opens up, and the jam lets loose - you never hear the guitar hook or chorus again. Opening track "Goin' Against Your Mind" is similar, though flows much more organically through its eight plus minutes. Despite the length, the song never loses momentum - it is just a killer rock song with a hard, thrashing guitar chug that alone is worth the price of admission.
Other highlights are the vocal-led pop songs "Liar" and "Saturday." "Liar" is a relaxed, unassuming country song. The guitar never gets loud. It just flows down slowly like a backyard stream, highlighting Martsch's voice, using a clever turn of phrase for a hook: "I would only be a liar if I told you that." "Saturday" also focuses on the vocals and lyrics, with Martsch delivering morose lines like "you're not like us, and by us I mean everyone in the world who isn't you" and ending the song with "commence the healing." Sonically it's pretty abstract for Martsch, with a persistent guitar pulse falling over into oozing, feedback-fueled and free-form guitar haze.
While some songs are so laidback and country, others are decidedly angry. "Mess With Time" is crunchy, with the guitar piercing through a stressed-out amp, and the drummer bashing on the cymbals with a vengeance. The guitar on "Wherever You Go" is a confident strut that casts dark colors all over the song, with creepy, real-meaning-of-"Every Breath You Take" lyrics - Martsch accenting the "owww" sound in "sounds."
Martsch's sardonic humor peppers the album. Nothing matches "You need a guide who needs a map" or "I think Lodger rules, I think my stepdad's a fool." However, outside of There's Nothing Wrong With Love, Martsch's lyrics have only sporadically had the same powerful honesty and Hemmingway-esque directness. For a group you've been listening to for 12 years, it's tricky evaluating how good the music is. Is this album good because it's like visiting an old friend you haven't heard from in a while? Or is it good on its own merits? While lyrically, Martsch fits more of the old friend role on this album - it clearly being the same voice as the frustrated guy from 1994 still dealing with the horrors of childhood - musically it is great on its own merits. If I was some 17 year old guy who was 5 when There's Nothing Wrong With Love came out and question Martsch as an old codger, I think I would still wear this out, just as I have done as a 31 year old guy the past week.
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