Spins: The Autumn Defense • Here and Nowhere
The Autumn Defense
Here and Nowhere
(Yep Roc)
Given the well-known regular gigs of Pat Sansone and John Stirratt as bandmates in Wilco, it’s understandable that their own band has always existed in the shadow of the more famous group. The Autumn Defense’s sonic identity is entirely distinct, though, and the pair have produced five worthy albums in the past that have earned them a dedicated fan base. The band now returns with its first album in ten years, and the steady lineup, including bassist James Haggerty and drummer Greg Wieczorek, has outdone itself with a sonically rich collection of beautifully crafted songs. The sound recalls the Laurel Canyon sound and production style of ’70s FM folk-rock and late ’60s pop, incorporating nods to the Beach Boys, Big Star, and the Byrds, among other tasty flavors.
The topics covered in songs like the shimmering “I’ll Take You Out of Your Mind” with Stirratt’s Raspberries-inspired melody and Sansone’s George Harrison-styled guitar solo tend toward relatable matters of their heart and the passage of time. Pensive piano ballad “Old Hearts” follows suit with a lead vocal by Sansone that suggests affection for Harry Nilsson. The song is underscored by Haggerty’s burbling McCartney-esque bass a la “Something” and highlighted by Burt Bacharach-styled horns.
Times that call for more over social commentary are always served by a Clash or Jesse Welles album. The humanity, warmth, and personal content of Here and Nowhere make for a welcome escape and opportunity to decompress. There’s enough turbulent and inward-looking content in a song like “The Ones” to provoke thought and reflection. The song meditates on impermanence and asks where the guiding lights and reliable anchors in life have gone. Jim Hoke’s sublime flute playing connects the song’s Seals & Crofts-styled flourishes to Sansone’s psych-pop guitar lead during a grooving outro.
“Winter Shore” fuses crafty folk-pop with George Martin-influenced orchestration reminiscent of “I Am the Walrus.” Sansone’s pulsing piano combines with Haggerty’s bass during the verses of the cautionary tale “In the Beginning” in a way that is somehow simultaneously reminiscent of Paul Williams, Billy Joel, and Supertramp. “Love isn’t always right,” sings Sansone. The song explodes to technicolor life at the chorus like a Discovery-era Electric Light Orchestra rock-and-strings production (think “Last Train to London” without the disco beat). The song’s coda traces a thread to Pet Sounds. Wieczorek provides a sturdy backbeat to acoustic guitar strummer “Hearts Arrive.”
Stirratt sings the pensive “Underneath the Rollers,” joined by Sansone in a chorus that seeks to solve the riddle of feeling uneasy in allegedly comfortable surroundings. “If you’re gonna be my answer, then why are your questions so true?” sings Stirratt. Sansone stretches out with a supple nylon-string guitar solo. Stirratt sings an expression of hindsight on “More Than I Can Say” that echoes Levon Helm’s character and phrasing. Hoke’s clarinet adds to the song’s melancholy. Sansone sings the tender and harmony-laden “Love Lives” with sunlit warmth, accented by a chiming 12-string guitar solo.
Here and Nowhere doesn’t get up and rock, but that’s not this album’s purpose. In any case, there’s ample spirit in chamber pop songs like the beatific “Ever Flowing Light,” which closes the album with reverb-drenched melodic bliss, jangling guitar, and stately strings. Wieczorek’s relaxed but reliable percussion recalls mid-tempo rockers driven by Stan Lynch of the Heartbreakers or Jim Keltner with the Traveling Wilburys.
It would be ideal to see the band perform the songs from Here and Nowhere. Despite the local connection via Wilco, the Autumn Defense last played in Chicago in 2014 and are most reliably found on a festival bill like Solid Sound or Sky Blue Sky headlined by Wilco itself. Still, the band mounted a handful of East Coast and Southeast shows earlier this fall. Fingers crossed.
– Jeff Elbel
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