Waxed on.
Danielson
Ships
(Secretly Canadian)
The names (slightly) change, but the game remains.
At his most willfully obtuse, Daniel Smith makes what can fairly be described as “anti-rock.” Whereas most lead singers, even bad ones, strive to sing well, Smith emotes in a grating falsetto whine. Whereas most rock acts work rhythmic variations on the ol’ 4/4, Smith assays a herky-jerk complexity that makes the densest prog-rock sound punk. As a Christian, he’s also so dead-set against idolatry that he avoids establishing an identity. Ships lists 34 “vital contributors” (Sufjan Stevens, Steve Albini, and various Danielson Famile members most notably), but no indication of who’s performing on which songs, thereby hindering personality-specific fantasies. Even the lyrics, which coming from somebody with something to say one would expect to matter, only emerge after repeated listens and sometimes not even then. As sheer sound it somehow holds together, but whether it does so as spectacle or as novelty is hard to say.
— Arsenio Orteza
Appearing: May 25th at Lakeshore Theater in Chicago.
Click here to download “Did I Step On Your Trumpet?”
