Party On
Jarvis Cocker’s Soundtrack to Your Saturday Night
With two on-the-fly live recordings and organically crafted songs worked out in rehearsals rather than delivered to the studio fully written, Jarvis Cocker’s album Further Complications (Rough Trade, May 19th), is a must-listen for any garage band fan.
After playing the Pitchfork Festival in Chicago last July, Cocker’s bassist, Steve Mackey, suggested recording some songs with Steve Albini. Cocker had already decided that he wanted this record to more of a group effort than his previous release. By recording them in an environment where all of the members could play at the same time, he hoped to capture the spirit of a band in which all its members were aiming in the same direction. The band, comprised of Cocker, Mackey, Ross Orton (drums), Simon Stafford (keys, backing vocals), Tim McCall (guitar), and Martin Craft (guitar, keys, backing vocals), found a home at Electrical Audio. After recording two tracks that summer, they finished the rest of the album at the same location in January.
Don’t let the seemingly lax recording style described fool you – this is a well-crafted album. The band had an obvious goal and they reached it. The first song on the album is also the first single entitled “Angela.” The song tells the story of a girl who is always just out of reach, but readily available for a night of debauchery. With a catchy guitar riff, heavy on the distortion, and vocal harmonies that are just slightly “off,” the track is an introduction to a record that turns out to be a house party’s dream.
Girls, sex and the situations that follow the combination are a major focus of the album. “F@#$ingsong” has a beat and a riff that are good and dirty. Cocker’s vocals are an infusion of Bowie and Jagger, singing the opening lines, “I will never get to touch you / so I wrote this song instead.” From there the innuendo keeps coming, but not gratuitously so – it has a purpose: the expression of a desire that goes so deep it can’t possibly be told to its object. Unfortunately, there are points where the actual music seems a little too out of left field. There is a random Theremin solo before the song ends with two eight-counts’ worth of electronic drum beats. I’m willing to overlook the small slip at the song’s conclusion, though; no matter what it’s a great track.
For all the wit and innuendo peppered throughout the album, Cocker can also churn out a damn good break-up song. The fifth track on the record, “Hold Still,” is a bluesy, Billy Joel-esque ballad with heartbreaking lyrics. Cocker’s voice, which rises into falsetto at only the most appropriate moments, nearly whispers, “My heart stopped beating, and I felt my blood run cold / Hold still I told you, but you moved / Now you’re gone, I can’t find you / We’re growing… growing, but why bother?” There may be a lot of songs out there about tumultuous relationships ending with tragic separations, but none with lyrics like, “We’re cosmic dust, but you’re everything to me”; not only does that make it original, but it makes me love it, as well.
Cocker doesn’t stay down on himself for too long before picking up the tempo again. The album is the perfect party soundtrack. When “Homewrecker!,” track six, comes busting out of your speakers, you’re inevitably going to spill your beer jamming out to it. What you need to remember is you can always get more beer, because you won’t be able to keep yourself from moving to this song, and most of the rest of the album for that matter.
So here’s what you do this Saturday: head to your nearest record store, pick up the album (on vinyl because everything is better in analog), pack your house with as many bodies as possible, turn your speakers up to the loudest volume they’ll emit, and rock out.
For more information head to www.myspace.com/jarvspace.
