Music - Part 79 - Glenn John

Glenn Jones – My Garden State (Thril Jockey)

LP/CD/DL

13 May 2013

Glenn Jones is known for his original storytelling through his songs, an good guitarist undoubtedly, but there’s something missing on ‘My Garden State’.  The ten instrumentals here are pleasant enough but that’s probably as far as it goes.  The tracks are crafted well and with the exception of ‘Going Back To East Montgomery’ and ‘Like A Sick Eagle Looking At The Sky’ are of reasonable length to be easy on the ear without being ‘too much’.  These two tracks at around eight minutes each, and to be frank, they could quite easily have been halved.

It’s true, the tracks exude a certain amount of emotion, the listener could well induce their own story to the music and find themselves drifting away into their own self-contained nirvana, and if that is the purpose of them then Glenn is a very talented musician indeed.  If not, then there is clearly something amiss and could be in need of being addressed.

Both opener and closer to the album, ‘Chimes’ and ‘Chimes II’ are pointless.  Quite literally the sound of chimes over a evening breeze with background crickets, they are almost identical, and are neither interesting nor cohesive to the rest of the album.  They may well have some personal reference to the musician, but to the listener, could have been deleted from the track listing.

Let’s be clear, this isn’t a bad album, in fact track two, ‘Across The Tappan Zee’, is a great piece, and to be fair, then holds great promise for the remainder of the album, but therein lies the problem.  Every track of ‘My Garden State’ bestows this promise, and it becomes a ‘nearly’ album.  Glenn tries to bring a bit of alternative to his playing by using alternate tunings and this is to be applauded.  Similarly, he has a skill for projecting many emotions through wordless tracks which is to be acknowledged and recognised.

At times, he drifts into improvisation with the likes of ‘The Vernal Pool’, but, on the title track, he again comes good with a well-constructed and enjoyable track

An album of promise, with a few dulled diamonds which are ideal as background music, but, lack a little something to bring it to the fore.

6/10

Listen to tracks from the album here

Links
Thrill Jockey Records
Glenn Jones On MySpace
Glenn Jones on Thrill Jockey

Published on Louder Than War 12/05/13 - http://louderthanwar.com/glenn-jones-my-garden-state-album-review/