REVIEW : Temporary People - No Depression
Temporary People takes loss as its subject, and anyone who's ever fallen passionately in love will recognize its mixture of ecstasy, terror, uncertainty and detachment in the face of big, unfashionable emotions. Joseph Arthur renders these dozen songs subtly, but the album's achievement rests in the Brooklyn songwriter's inspired use of the same old rock materials.
What's more, he has a sense of humor and a sly way with all the stuff he's lifted from a '70s canon that seems to favor Bowie and the Stones. "Winter Blades" lifts off with a basic rock 'n' roll structure, complete with a distorted vocal and a nicely executed fake ending. Like Chuck Prophet, Arthur likes to pile on the details: backing vocals, wah-wah guitar, harmonica, extraneous percussion. Unlike Prophet, however, Arthur often hides behind the density of his arrangements. This is appropriate for a record that lurks in the shadow of loss.
"Say Goodbye" feints in the direction of 3/4 time before settling into a simple acoustic-guitar pattern complemented by echoed guitar lines. "You left on a cold afternoon/Leaving winter in the month of June," Arthur sings. "Faith" features a vocal that seems to slouch, but Arthur stretches out his words and pitches his voice in the direction of hope, defiance – some useful emotion along those lines. For that matter, Arthur has a sense of humor: the way he inflects "go on" in "Heart's A Soldier" matches the droll soulfulness of lines such as, "You try to change the weather/Even though you know it's a mistake." And the exquisite, brief "Dream Is Longer Than The Night" turns on a perfect chord change. Here, Arthur's voice is a whisper trailing off into a rabbit hole, and the gospel-inflected 6/8 structure is perfectly judged.
The Lonely Astronauts follow Arthur every step of the way, with Greg Wieczorek's drumming particularly apposite. Garth Hudson adds piano and organ to several tracks. The closing song, "Good Friend", is invested with almost more emotion than it can contain. This is appropriate for a record which doesn't try to dodge the uncomfortable and oddly invigorating feelings that only love – and its discontents – can evoke. Temporary People feels strangely permanent, even as it sports a cover photograph of the band posing among various female mannequins. Joseph Arthur might be "naked and alone," as he sings in "Faith", but he makes that condition sound as temporary as any number of other afflictions that feel as though they'll last forever.
What's more, he has a sense of humor and a sly way with all the stuff he's lifted from a '70s canon that seems to favor Bowie and the Stones. "Winter Blades" lifts off with a basic rock 'n' roll structure, complete with a distorted vocal and a nicely executed fake ending. Like Chuck Prophet, Arthur likes to pile on the details: backing vocals, wah-wah guitar, harmonica, extraneous percussion. Unlike Prophet, however, Arthur often hides behind the density of his arrangements. This is appropriate for a record that lurks in the shadow of loss.
"Say Goodbye" feints in the direction of 3/4 time before settling into a simple acoustic-guitar pattern complemented by echoed guitar lines. "You left on a cold afternoon/Leaving winter in the month of June," Arthur sings. "Faith" features a vocal that seems to slouch, but Arthur stretches out his words and pitches his voice in the direction of hope, defiance – some useful emotion along those lines. For that matter, Arthur has a sense of humor: the way he inflects "go on" in "Heart's A Soldier" matches the droll soulfulness of lines such as, "You try to change the weather/Even though you know it's a mistake." And the exquisite, brief "Dream Is Longer Than The Night" turns on a perfect chord change. Here, Arthur's voice is a whisper trailing off into a rabbit hole, and the gospel-inflected 6/8 structure is perfectly judged.
The Lonely Astronauts follow Arthur every step of the way, with Greg Wieczorek's drumming particularly apposite. Garth Hudson adds piano and organ to several tracks. The closing song, "Good Friend", is invested with almost more emotion than it can contain. This is appropriate for a record which doesn't try to dodge the uncomfortable and oddly invigorating feelings that only love – and its discontents – can evoke. Temporary People feels strangely permanent, even as it sports a cover photograph of the band posing among various female mannequins. Joseph Arthur might be "naked and alone," as he sings in "Faith", but he makes that condition sound as temporary as any number of other afflictions that feel as though they'll last forever.
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