Preston School of Industry - Monsoon
(Matador)
In 2001 Scott Kannberg released the playful and fantastically enjoyable All This Sounds Gas, his first collection of self-written material. Kannberg will always remain legendary within the greater indie rock community for his decade’s worth of work in Pavement, but after two albums under the guise of the Preston School of Industry, he is proving that his solo career should also be extremely memorable. With PSOI’s latest release, Monsoon, Kannberg and company have successfully stayed true to the roots laid down in the debut while continuing to add layers to their sound.
Despite being solidly entertaining, All This Sounds Gas had its moments of unevenness. Even with a number of catchy and stand-out tracks, the record at points lacks a completely cohesive flow, largely attributable to the fact that so many of the songs were written over the course of several years. Following a move from California to Seattle, Kannberg penned the ten tracks comprising Monsoon within a more compacted time frame and the resulting record is much stronger for that. From start to finish, the album’s overall tone is rather calm and each one of the songs is perfectly sequenced. It does not take many spins of the album for it to be quite apparent that that Kannberg is not an artist who is still in search of his voice. His confidence and presence is evident starting with the album opening “The Furnace Sun,” a pleasant mid-tempo rocker with a touch of pedal-steel twang, the track sounds a bit like Neil Young filtered through the ears and sounds of frequent Preston School of Industry touring mate Wilco. The influence of Wilco is not restrained just to the opening track – Kannberg managed to rope the majority of the other band into the studio to join him on the completely nutty “Get Your Crayons Out!” Noisy, catchy and just a little irreverent, the track is quite different from any of the album’s other tracks. These tracks are another chapter in Kannberg’s unabashed willingness, either in Pavement or as Preston School of Industry, to wear his various musical influences on his sleeves and write original songs offering praise to those he respects so much. And what about the Mark E. Smith-like vocal barking over the convoluted beginning to “Line It Up”? It is the sort of wonderfully fun touch that is commonplace on this record.
One trait that has characterized both Preston School of Industry albums is a sort of straightforward songwriting earnestness absent from the solo albums from a certain other ex-Pavement alumnus. It would be difficult to call the output of PSOI as hollow after listening to “Caught in the Rain,” “Tone it Down” or “If the Straights of Magellan Should Ever Run Dry.” While these three songs illustrate that principal better than the rest of the album, there are many moments similar to this over the course of Monsoon’s 40 minute running time.
All This Sounds Gas was a good album that contained a number of great standout tracks that jumped out from the first listen onwards including the pleasantly pleasing pop of “Falling Away,” the anthemic rock of “Encyclopedic Knowledge Of.” Monsoon differs in that it lacks those completely standout tracks, but, in the process, it is left as the better and more effecting album. Kannberg has always been a good and underappreciated songwriter. As he has gained even more experience and produced albums with songs like these, it will be difficult for his considerable skills to go without additional recognition.
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