Jim O'Rourke - Halfway to a Threeway
(Drag City)
Highly reputed experimental/soundscape/noise musician, Jim O'Rourke has released his second pop record. His first was last year's, Eureka, which maintained his experimental style by putting parts of songs in strange and unexpected contexts. However, the quality of songwriting on this short 4 track EP is much better than that of Eureka, resulting in a much more natural and pleasing record.
All 4 songs are driven by Jim O'Rourke's fingerpicking style of guitar playing. The first is a nice standard pop song with a bit of a post rock feel. "Not Sport, Marital Art" is a midtempo instrumental with a coronet part halfway through. The third song, "The Workplace" is definitely my favorite. Sam Prekop of The Sea and Cake sings backup on the very repetitive, but very catchy second half. The title track closes the EP. It's the most obvious example of Jim O'Rourke's use of bizarre juxtapositions. The music is very nice, simple and subdued while the lyrics are completely bizarre and unexpected. Despite how short this EP is, it's easily one of Jim O'Rourke's best efforts.
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