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Kenny
Tompkins: The Beautiful Death of Everything
Kenny Tompkins The Beautiful Death of Everything is an example of how over what. I have no problem with an album that wants to discuss mortality (even down to its morbid details yes, when we die we become plant food), but not when its devoid of melody and provocative language. Tompkins is tackling big stuff here but more often than not its with a sophomoric heart. Come to think of it, a lot of these songs sound like the ruminations of teenagers on the verge of discovery (a bit awkward, perhaps melodramatic, pretentious even). I applaud Tompkins for trying, but I dont think hes hitting the mark yet. Take Untie Yourself to Me for example, which bears the lines, Avery makes her way to town and climbs up to the churchs steeple, looking for some new perspective through her jaded eyes and ...from the height she sees the streets are filled from end to end with people walking back and forth between their discontent and misery. His use of jaded and discontent aside, its the lazy criticism of the working stiff here that troubles me. Isnt it a clich that most people are unhappy with their lives and were all just consumers, etc.? If youre gonna remind us, why not have a good take on it? Tompkins (or I should say his characters) angle hardly garners empathy, let alone sympathy, nor does it entertain. (Didnt Fight Club manage to do this in terms of perspective, not subject matter?) Save a handful of songs, the music here is a bit uninspired, too (more middle-of-the-road than anything). I hate to say this but listening to it had me reaching for copies of Either/Or and Automatic for the People. Yeah, those are high standards to live up to, but standards nonetheless. That said, I did like some of the little things on the album: the gulp of air that sets things off, the whoa-oh chorus on Untie Yourself to Me, the feedback that underlines certain moments, and despite my issues with the writing, I was no less than intrigued with lines like, The stars will shine without you, In the first days of my life I met a girl who was a ghost, and You were screaming out these words, hoping that you would be heard, By an angel who could make you sure that Heaven knew who you were.
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