Owen’s new album makes rock personal with honest lyrics, acoustic guitar
Owen’At Home with Owen’Sounds like: ‘Pedro the Lion’70 Decibels
He plays emo music, but Mike Kinsella isn’t really emo by today’s standards.
Kinsella’s not a screamer and his voice isn’t particularly nasal. He doesn’t dress like a burlesque clown or a vampire in a flak jacket. He’s just a guy who plays songs and occasionally he rocks a sweater vest.
Still, Kinsella knows what he’s doing. His former band Cap’n Jazz served as part of the bridge in the ’90s that connected early emo-core bands like Lifetime and Jawbreaker to the more accessible Jimmy Eat World and Get Up Kids.
However, as architect of Owen, one of Kinsella’s many projects (see sidebar), he veers away from Cap’n Jazz’s frenetic pace and intensity, opting instead for a focus on subtly elaborate instrumentation and his lyrics.
‘At Home with Owen,’ his latest album, continues in this vein. The music itself is an ornate mix of acoustic guitar flourishes, the atmospherics of post-rock and light percussion, with piano, synthesizers and strings providing the occasional lift.
The title of the album is appropriate; each song feels like a personal dialogue with Kinsella. More of a speaker than a crooner, he gives the listener the feeling he is right there, pleading with you on a couch or trying his hardest to leave a kind message on your answering machine.
Tender at times, jaded and cold at others, Kinsella always seems honest. He honestly and simply explains how he feels, in the frankness of ‘Bad News,’ in which he reluctantly explains, ‘You’re a has-been that never was / or will be.’
Kinsella doesn’t pull punches or play games in expressing his sentiments on the new album. ‘Could you love someone completely?’ Kinsella asks over the soft country-rock of ‘The Sad Waltzes of Pietro Crespi’ before adding ‘And yes, by ‘someone,’ I mean me.’
The inclusion of a cover of ‘Femme Fatale,’ performed by German songstress Nico while with the Velvet Underground, fits the mood. While Kinsella’s plain voice may not be as fragile and emotive as Nico’s, his lyrics certainly are.
All of the work is solid, but certain tracks stand out. ‘A Bird in Hand,’ the album’s centerpiece, is a stunner. A soft chorus of background vocals guides the seven-minute epic, building to a crescendo before a crunching guitar solo rips its way into the forefront.
Kinsella’s weariness comes through in full force as time goes by. ‘One of these days I’ll give up and give in to the man,’ he mutters quietly as the album’s closer ‘One of These Days’ ends. Maybe being honest for all these years has left him worn out. Or maybe he’s just being emo.
