My earliest introduction to Boise, Idaho's Built To Spill was a thread on the Indiepop mailing-list back in the 1990's, with two camps debating on the band's pop music ingenuity. The indiepop camp were firmly of the opinion that Built To Spill were too 'rock' for their tastes while the other camp admired Built To Spill's melding of rock and pop music influences. Unfortunately, I'd never taken the time to actually listen to them until recently when I got an advanced copy of their most recent album "You In Reverse" which is officially released tomorrow through Warner Bros. I can't speak for the band's earlier catalogue but the new record may just become one of my favourites of the year. Over the span of ten tracks, the record encompasses a variety of rock influences but never loses track of a good melody. The record even breathes life into that most hated(or perhaps loved) of rock cliches, the guitar solo, which I thought I'd never come around to. The album starts off strong with the melodic indie rock urgency of "Goin' Against Your Mind" then dives into the mid-tempo pop-rock of "Traces" which reminded me a little of Versus. The gorgeous R.E.M.-ish jangle of "Liar" was a real treat. Built To Spill introduces a Neil Young-ish guitar squall into "Wherever You Go" and "Gone" but sandwiches between those two tracks, the power-pop crunch of "Conventional Wisdom". The album ends on a subtler note with it's last two tracks, the languid Velvet Underground-sounding "Just A Habit" and the cosmic country-ish balladry of "The Wait". With such a strong group of tracks, even the album's slight(but only slight) falters were tolerable: I like Death Cab For Cutie as much as the next indie rock fan, but I could not get over how much Built To Spill's "Saturday" sounded like DCFC. The middle eastern influenced guitar melody of "Mess With Time" was too post-grunge sounding for my tastes, but saved itself partway through the song with its shift to a bouncier rhythm.
Overall, the record's a winner. Even more, it's renewed my faith in the trio. When it seems like bands these days are getting larger and larger[don't get me wrong I still love Broken Social Scene, The Arcade Fire, and Belle and Sebastian], it's great to see Built To Spill prove how only three persons can still create such beautiful music. "You In Reverse" is a rock record with a pop music heart, and that's as simple as I can put it.
Listen to the band at MySpace.
Stream Built To Spill's new album "You In Reverse" at VH1.
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