erasing clouds
 

The Capstan Shafts, Revelation Skirts

review by dave heaton

To be honest, Dean Wells of the Capstan Shafts is one of my favorite melody writers in music right now. That’s not to devalue his lyrics, which can be funny and touching, or the music, which can push forward with the arena-rock energy of his idol Robert Pollard, without being too imitative of him. Revelation Skirts is Wells leaving his 4-track behind, to make an album that sounds more like that of a proper rock band. As much as I love that scuzzy homemade rock sound, and as amazed as I’ve been at how great his music can sound, considering the equipment limitations, it’s exciting to hear his music louder and clearer. It carries all of the confidence and under-the-spotlight energy that change can bring, much as his live shows with a band have.

He’s bridged that transition well, capturing all of that extra presence while keeping enough of the scuzz in his sound to not drain the sense of beauty and wildness it can bring.

A fair number of these songs are familiar to me, though I haven’t yet gone back through his bountiful discography of previous releases to see which came from where. For fans that is a treat, to hear songs you already know take on a new, bigger life, but the higher fidelity should also open the band up to a wider audience of listeners.

There are 14 scrappy little pop-rock songs, a lot of them resembling come-ons or notes between friends or would-be lovers (or shouldn’t-have-been lovers), often wrapped up with thoughts of mortality, global politics, or existential crises. Wells and collaborators know when to turn up the volume and when to dial it back, and when to highlight a lyric or harmony, to get the sweetness or bitterness of a song across, like on “Successfully Into You” (“I hope this good mood passes / successfully into you” rides an equally sunny tune) or the alternately forlorn and defiant “Versus the World-Hater”, which is stripped-down to showcase the sentiment and his singing. There’s a bittersweet air to his music, always. I’d pinpoint that as a key part of the charm, the way your heart fills at the same time the guitars rise up and the drums kick in.

{www.rainbowquartz.com}


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