Witt Mills - Dust Collection Agency
(Old Gold)
The premature death of Witt Mills left sadness in the hearts of many who knew him, as well as a bevy of artistic artifacts in various stages of completion, most of which had never surfaced in any public documentation. A demo recording was made in 1999, but it wasn't released due to Mills continued efforts to re-record and revamp the music. Dust Collection Agency contains a fraction of the recordings Mills made for his debut release, and while it might not be the album Mills would have eventually released had he been able to finish it, it now serves as a tribute to a friend and (for most of us) an introduction to a man we never knew.
To those who knew him, Mills' enthusiasm and friendliness seem to have been two of his best assets, and, in a way, they seem to come through in these recordings. Dust Collection Agency is an expectedly lo-fi effort, an assortment of pop songs, tape manipulation, ambient noisescapes, and conversational snippets. It's an engaging collection, to be sure, with plenty of goofy fun, understated beauty, and enough stylistic gymnastics to keep things interesting for the album's fifty-minute duration. Mills has a strong melodic sense, and tracks like "Lou" and "I Cheated the Sun," Mills' strongest pop ditties are Dust Collection Agency's best tracks. Mills' sound collages are adequate enough, while they're sometimes a little clumsy, their homespun qualities make the noise almost quaint. Dust Collection Agency's biggest issue seems to be unavoidable. A posthumous collection of tracks that were or weren't finished to a varying degree is bound to have its ups and downs, and this disc does, for sure. Mills' more upbeat tunes could often use an injection of the beauty that's part of his slower works, and there seems to be a bit of a dip in quality as the album nears its end.
In the end, Dust Collection Agency is what it is: a way to memorialize a friend and his music, and it's entirely successful in that regard. Whether or not it's a masterpiece of American music is almost irrelevant in light of what the album is and what it means To those of us who didn't know Witt and had never heard his music, Dust Collection Agency does just fine.
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