CMJ 1996
(IDAHO Three Sheets To The
Wind Caroline)
The past few years have seen a
general lightening in Idaho’s musical tone and lyrical sentiment, but Three
Sheets To The Wind is still written in the most
minor of keys; the dominant feel is still one of introspection and exhaustion.
The principal change is that Idaho is back to being a full-sized band (the
previous album, 1994’s This Way Out, had seen the band dwindle down to
just singer Jeff Martin). Martin’s new players seem to give him a palpable jolt
of energy; up tempo tracks like “Catapult” and “Pomegranate Bleeding” are
probably the closest Idaho has ever come to rocking out. Martin, however,
remains at the spotlight. Both his ragged, whispery voice and his feedback-soaked,
equally hurt-sounding guitar lines (both of which owe a stylistic debt to Neil Young)
are attention-grabbing, even on songs where the setting is spare and the rhythm
section slows down to a melancholy shuffle. Idaho still seems to be experimenting
with ways of striking a balance between the poles of obsessive gloom and of
melody and dynamism (the band seems to be evolving towards longer songs that
build to crescendos, like the quietly awe-inspiring “No One’s Watching,”
instead of short and monotonous slabs), but this young band is already bridging
that gap as well as anyone.
—David Jarman
DATALOG: Released Feb. 20.
FILE UNDER: Downbeat, downcast guitar pop.
R.I.Y.L.: Codeine, Yo La Tengo’s slow songs, Neil Young.