REVIEW : Let's Just Be - Beacon Journal

By Malcolm X Abram,

For most of his five-album, 10-year career, singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur has been a purveyor of soft, very melodic, seemingly intimate and mournful songs that often sound like they were recorded alone in a candlelit studio.

But since guitarist Kraig Jarret Johnson, formerly of beloved roots-rockers the Jayhawks and Golden Smog, joined Arthur's touring band, Arthur has been indulging his inner Glimmer Twin. Anyone who has caught the Firestone High grad's last few gigs in his hometown have surely noticed the infusion of rock and the loose bar band/'70s Stones vibe that permeates his group, the Lonely Astronauts. (He has upcoming dates in Cleveland and Akron.)

Come Tuesday, that vibe will have a record to go with it in Let's Just Be. Arthur has stressed that Joseph Arthur & the Lonely Astronauts is an actual band effort. He and Johnson share songwriting credits on six of the lengthy disc's 16 cuts, with ex-Natalie Merchant guitarist Jennifer Turner contributing the acoustic Gimme Some Company. And unlike Arthur's carefully constructed efforts, the band-produced record has a straight-to-tape feel and many sonic loose ends, such as studio chatter and obvious mistakes that are left unclipped.

The album's intent is made clear from the first two tracks: Diamond Ring, a laid-back slice of bluesy bar rock with Arthur and the band indulging in sloppy harmonies; and Good Life, arguably the hardest rocking song Arthur has ever recorded, which finds him cutting loose with yelps and screams over a boogalooing tambourine and chromatic power chords. He mimics Mick Jagger's swaggering falsetto on the short and sweet rocker Cockteeze, and the plodding, fuzzed-out Cocaine Feet reaches for and nearly achieves the visceral thump of the Stooges' Fun House.

While the informal feel lends the album a sense of fun, it also gives the band license to indulge too much. The 20-minute Lonely Astronaut starts as a familiar, low-key acoustic song that builds to a rocking crescendo, before being interrupted by an awkward riff that turns into an 11-minute jam/endurance test. It may have been great fun for the band to perform, but the average listener is unlikely to make it through the song more than once.

Fans of the intimate, lone-troubadour side of Arthur won't be completely alienated; the sweetPrecious One features some supple slide work from Turner, and both the waltz-time Chicago andLack of Vision are midtempo roots tunes that should warm the ears of fans.

Arthur is already a prolific songwriter and now with his own label (Lonely Astronaut Records, detecting the theme yet?) and his band, he has another outlet for both his songs and his inner rock star.

Placed next to the rest of his catalog, Joseph Arthur & the Lonely Astronauts sounds like a fun side project, the kind of record his fans will happily buy and listen to a few times before going back to their favorite Arthur solo record.

Taken on its own, Arthur has obviously been energized by Johnson's presence, and the still-young songwriting partnership certainly shows promise. But occasionally, Let's Just Be gets bogged down by its own "anything goes'' vibe.