Built to Spill - Ancient Melodies of the Future
(Warner Brothers)
Built to Spill have steadily etched their name on the face of indie rock for the last eight years over
the course of 4 brilliant albums and assorted other releases.
Ancient Melodies of the Future is their newest offering of melodic introspection and hazy guitar lines.
Where Perfect From Now On took the well developed pop sensibilities of their previous albums and incorporated a love for the guitar solo heroics of both Hendrix and Young, stretching them into sprawling, melancholy gems, the last two albums have worked toward achieving the
same expansiveness without actually having to expand the songs. Keep it Like a Secret had the short,
catchy punch of their older material, but was a drawn out, beautifully melancholy epic. Ancient Melodies
of the Future finds them exploring that balance between the two sides by throwing in different
arrangements and styles.
The opening track, "Strange" is driven by Sam Coomes' (Love As Laughter) signature overdriven keyboard while
"Happiness" has a bouncy blues/country touch. When used, the new elements take on the qualities of
"Built to Spill," shifting and molding to the songs, instead of changing the sound and making the song
sound foreign among the band's previous albums. So, though I shy away from country & blues, the times when it rears it's head and the song starts to
swagger, it never overtakes the song, leaving it excused or ignored.
Plenty of songs are classic Built to Spill, such as "Alarmed" and "The Weather" both of which would have
fit in nicely on "There's Nothing Wrong With Love."
This album leaves me feeling happy to have heard some new Built to Spill, but it doesn't inspire me to
listen to it again. I mean, after you know that Doug Martsch's step dad looks exactly like David Bowie, how much more is there to learn about a person? The band's songs are similarly overly familiar; we've heard them in their pure form, and we've heard them Hendrix-ed out--everything since has been just a variation. Instead, listening to Ancient Melodies of the Future just makes me want to listen to their older albums another few times. It may grow on me, or it may just be a reminder of some good examples of Built to Spill's stylings, not their songs.
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