Jeff London, The Bane of Progress

reviewed by dave heaton

It’s an eternal theme, country living vs city living, and the final two songs on Jeff London’s new album The Bane of Progress sum up the dilemma, in feeling, perfectly. In a city as bullet-ridden, but still classically ideal in some ways, as Philadelphia, I can’t help but be charmed by the chorus of the ‘city’ song: “I don’t want to live with a flak jacket on / but I like the view of the skyline.” Of course the song is about more than just cities: about the more general question of positioning oneself in places, in life, in relation to others. The country song -- um, “Country Song” – is large in scope too, smartly fighting off that ridiculous mentality of the city as blue/liberal/enlightened, the country as red/conservative/backwards.

These two songs are part of the greater push and pull in the album, summed up by the title, The Bane of Progress. These are songs about feeling stuck, making choices, trying to connect with other people. They’re about email and text messages making you feel less connected to others, not more (“no amount of bandwidth can substitute for touch”), about how a perfect view can make everything seem better, even if it’s not; about placing memories of the past in the context of the present and imagined future, about trying to relate to another person but being continually just out of step, about the how people hurt each other in the process of searching for happiness.

But besides just thoughtfully (poetically but directly) articulating feelings and experiences familiar to us free-floating, seeking humans, these songs stun and seduce with their form and style. More precisely, with a crisp, pretty, folk-pop sound: elegant, occasionally jazz piano meeting rustic guitar, pedal steel, violin and atmospheres. And London’s voice sounding so pure amidst it all. This is soothing, comforting music, but also filled with questions, with restlessness.

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