It's Easy
I have criticized Robert Pollard's recent work in part for two reasons: he doesn't seem to be taking chances and he doesn't follow through on the development of his ideas. On the first point, his work has grown somewhat predictable (understandable after 20+ years and hundreds of songs). On the second, he often seems content to send a demo to Todd Tobias, let him come up with something and then offer what sounds like a first-take vocal to complete the track.
There always are exceptions, of course, and "It's Easy" is one. It's an odd exception, however, because it is the most conventional song Pollard has recorded in quite some time. It's a straightforward ballad built on a typical chord progression with an obvious melody. The only thing keeping this from sounding like every sensitive singer-songwriter's bestest demo is the lyric, and even that is fairly conventional, by Pollard standards, anyway. The only thing that grabs the listener is toward the end when he sings, "Sensational kid gravity, now's got his own reality, he's falling down for you," which seems to reference "Sensational Gravity Boy," a mid-90s Guided by Voices track. In the same verse, he drops this: "Safe and please us, tax exempt with Touchdown Jesus," an odd line to say the least, but one that doesn't really mean anything.
The song at best can be called a dirge, with it's plodding beat and unwavering acoustic guitar strum. Tobias adds some musical flourishes, but this is the kind of thing that wouldn't sound terribly different if Uncle Bob accompanied himself on guitar while sitting with the kids around the campfire. Then again, by the time he brought it to a close nearly 5 minutes later, the kids would all have pulled out their Game Boys.
That said, it's still among the best tracks on the album. When Pollard does something well, even conventional things can excel. Such is the case here. On a list of his best tracks, you'd be well into the triple digits before you could even see this one, but the way he fully gives himself over to its simplicity (and actually puts something into the vocal) elevates it above a lot of what he's done lately.
There always are exceptions, of course, and "It's Easy" is one. It's an odd exception, however, because it is the most conventional song Pollard has recorded in quite some time. It's a straightforward ballad built on a typical chord progression with an obvious melody. The only thing keeping this from sounding like every sensitive singer-songwriter's bestest demo is the lyric, and even that is fairly conventional, by Pollard standards, anyway. The only thing that grabs the listener is toward the end when he sings, "Sensational kid gravity, now's got his own reality, he's falling down for you," which seems to reference "Sensational Gravity Boy," a mid-90s Guided by Voices track. In the same verse, he drops this: "Safe and please us, tax exempt with Touchdown Jesus," an odd line to say the least, but one that doesn't really mean anything.
The song at best can be called a dirge, with it's plodding beat and unwavering acoustic guitar strum. Tobias adds some musical flourishes, but this is the kind of thing that wouldn't sound terribly different if Uncle Bob accompanied himself on guitar while sitting with the kids around the campfire. Then again, by the time he brought it to a close nearly 5 minutes later, the kids would all have pulled out their Game Boys.
That said, it's still among the best tracks on the album. When Pollard does something well, even conventional things can excel. Such is the case here. On a list of his best tracks, you'd be well into the triple digits before you could even see this one, but the way he fully gives himself over to its simplicity (and actually puts something into the vocal) elevates it above a lot of what he's done lately.
Labels: The Crawling Distance
posted by John Kenyon at 8:31 AM
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