EZ T - Goodbye Little Doll
(Monitor)
EZ T is the love child of Colin Michael Gagon, erstwhile collaborator with the Oldham camp, namely Will and Paul, and Bill Callahan of Smog. Here in Goodbye Little Doll, Gagon shows us just how long he has worked with each and how skillful he is at song writing.
While each of the nine tracks is interesting and progresses from first to last with momentum, it's easy to get caught up in the "sounds-like-Oldham" or "sounds-like-Callahan" game. It's also great to see all the usual suspects in his band. Paul Oldham plays bass, Aram Stith plays guitars, both of Anomoanon and Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Richard Schuler and Sarabeth Tucek have both appeared on Smog albums and Gagon enlists his siblings, Jeremy Gagon and Genevieve Gagon, both of the Heavenly States, to play drums and violin, respectively. No one could ask for a better band.
There are a couple of tracks on this record that come too close to sounding like Will Oldham or Bill Callahan, but they're still quite winsome tunes. "Downs-Pain" is reminiscent of "More Brother Rides" from Viva Last Blues and "Fingerless Children" reminds me of "Morality" on Supper. The song "Goodbye Little Doll" seems to come closest to being Gagon's own sound and it's one of my favorite songs on the record. With strange lyrics and a smoky bar beat, he sings "throwing nickels at the sunset to buy some more time". It's a very charming image.
I can't wait to hear more from EZ T. There is a level of ease and accomplishment to this album that is unexpected in most debuts and it doesn't take long before you're humming along.
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