|
|
|
BANDS: Punk
& Ska INTERESTS: Venues ETC... About
LOTD
|
Colin Spring
& the Band That Murdered Silence: Cancion del Pollo
Cancion del Pollo means Song of the Chicken, and is certainly not the most romantic of album titles. But as singer/songwriter/leader of The Band That Murdered Silence Colin Spring explains with a poem in his liner notes, hes not actually writing about poultry. The chicken is the common man, the working class and its song stutters and starts like a factory belt full of chicken parts. If Spring didnt sing the Song of the Chicken, he asks, who than [sic] shall it be? Luckily, Spring is a lover of everyday people and their forgotten stories, and he tells 13 of them on Cancion... Springs own story is biography-worthy, as proven in the mini one he scripted on his web site. He tells the tale of his disenfranchised bookworm mother, who reared Spring on her own after his father died in a car accident and her second husband served time for dealing dope. As a child, he was embarrassed of his low-income housing and craved summers, when he would visit his wealthy grandparents on the East Coast. However, in retrospect Spring notes, I can see why that life drove my mother out west and why I would not trade any of those boring comforts for the teepee or the Goodwill's or the random hodge podge of drinking mugs in the kitchen cabinets. The tales he tells are no less humble and just as interesting. Putting the Spring in Springsteen, Colin knows how to wordsmith predictable short stories into dazzling folk epics. Opening track Come Back, Baby Jean is the umpteenth recounting of two jaded kids that run away from home to seek their fortune but Springs couple are Poorly skilled and richly reckless, they drove off into the sunset/A scripted clich of the young and feckless on a quest to where the Coke runs bottomless. In Sweet Repose, a typical summer evening is turned into a torture chamber, from which a sweat-soaked dying moon wants so bad to be a survivor. There are tinges of Tom Petty in Springs many moments of low-class desperation, and the dozens of ideas stuffed into each line call Elvis Costello to mind. Like Costello, Springs music is built for the lyrics. The folk-rock sound is unfinished and raw, complementing his understated style; Springs voice is unimpressive and the acoustic guitar riffs often become repetitive in their attempt to accommodate his lyrics. But pay attention, and Springs down-home poetry cannot be denied, making this Cancion enjoyable for all but the most pretentious listeners.
This album can be purchased at Home Recorded Culture Colin Spring & the Band That Murdered Silence Official Website About LOTD Contact/Staff Advertise Home All content © LEFT OFF THE DIAL 2001-2005. All rights reserved. |
