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The Gunshy:
No Man's Blues
This is a tough one to review. Have you ever been to a concert and seen an opening band hit you on the head with desperate songs about how their life is full of shit, terrible, and hopeless? One certainly comes to mind for me. I saw Swearing at Motorists live in Austin, TX once. This show consisted of the drummer from another band and a lone singer/electric guitarist. Most of the songs were spoken lyrics with occasional short thrashes of guitar and anger as the themes became more desperate and hopeless. Only the amp was broken, and every time he tried to play his guitar loudly, the sound would drop out and fizzle, leaving him more and more frustrated. It was a bright sunny day and everybody was outside drinking at the bar, so seeing somebody who fit every DSM-IV criteria for major depressive disorder (and then some) undergo such technical humiliation wasnt exactly my idea of a good time. If The Gunshy has anything working against them, it probably falls into a similar category. What we have is a very talented songwriter named Matt Arbogast, who seems like his original style of writing was a dark confessional song-structure, backed mostly by some timid acoustic guitar strumming. In fact, hearing a song like Seven Weeks live during an opening act performance conjures up the potential for another Swearing at Motorists nightmare to me. Fragile words about a doomed relationship, alcoholism, and cheery lines like Im fucking up my life for songs I know nobody would like should give you the picture. But wait, there is hope! No Mans Blues represents a crucial change in direction for The Gunshy. Arbogast has recruited a bunch of band members to help him out in spots so that over half of the songs here really shine in a new light. The hopeless acoustic ballad isnt necessarily a lost cause in the world of music, but for each success like Big Stars Holocaust, there are at least a few dozen that dont quite work out. Then again, there are a few dozen Cure albums with a full band and similar themes that do work. What does that tell you? In my opinion, depressing songs sound best in the context of heavily dynamic music. Just listen to Your Favorite Dylan Song here on No Mans Blues. It uses a full on indie rock band approach to deliver lines like These cigarettes may kill me but for now theyre keeping me alive in a way where you can feel the singers desperation, but the music is crucial in building that bridge with the audience. Musically stripped down confessional despair has to be used sparingly (or with the godlike wit of a Stephen Merritt) to be successful, but The Gunshys five full band songs here are really impressive. So impressive in fact, that a sparse track like Mistaken begins to reveal its true beauty in the new context. My advice to The Gunshy is to keep working in the full band direction and to save some of the confessional skills of Arbogast as the ace in their hole. My advice to you is to check out No Mans Blues if you get a chance, because a couple songs here are too good to pass up.
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