erasing clouds
 

The Capstan Shafts, The Sleeved and Granddaughters of the Blacklist

reviewed by dave heaton

"Here's to less confusion in the new year", Dean Wells sings over a jangle of acoustic guitars and fuzzy bass to kick off The Sleeved and Granddaughters of the Blacklist, the new, and dare I say best yet, album from DIY, lo-fi, one-man-rock-band The Capstan Shafts. "Best" might be up for debate, I love them all, but it's certainly the prettiest Capstan Shafts CD yet, due to its generally light tone, often acoustic demeanor, and Wells' particularly soft, wistful singing at times.

It's the perfect album for the holiday season, rife as it is with contemplation, romantic thoughts, and general well-wishing (plus typically wry humor and goofing around). Many of the songs are introspective and heart-baring, expressing sentiment like "sometimes I wish this rain would wash my heavy heart away". Often that's entwined with a sense of longing, that perennial reaching out for a hand to hold onto. That's the impression that's given even when the lyrics read like intriguing nonsense. Yet often the lyrics are quite direct, as on the fragile "Groovy Your World View", which begins "you'd be a beautiful waste of a daydream", and the even more fragile "Hominid Stickler", with its memorable (and memorably sung) chorus "yes I have a tendency to fall at your feet / but it's the best place of all".

Most of all though, the Capstan Shafts once again win me over by delivering some of the catchiest melodies of the year, and making them affecting, stirring, moving, even when they're delivered casually. Actually that loose, thrown-together feeling somehow seems to work in their favor, especially here where the mood itself is casual and friendly. There's 20 songs on the CD, with an average song length of somewhere around 1 minute and 20 seconds. Yet not one of the songs feels unfinished or incomplete. It's a quick, breezy album that nonetheless feels full and substantial. It leaves off with Wells playfully singing that he's "looking for a lovely ambidextrous girl", sweetly capping off an album filled with unwritten love letters and fleeting concerns about life's worth, hung onto fantastic hooks and turned into songs that are quick in time but significant in impact.

In much the same vein is the even newer Capstan Shafts CD (yes, there's always a new one) The Sun Don't Get Things Done (Without a Little Help From Everyone), released on Wells' own Ladder the Christmas Monkey imprint and available, along with many of his other releases, through Asaurus Records' distro for $2. It's a quick EP with six songs of the same general mood. It's laidback and loose, and sweet in tone, from the ode to a beloved place "Lower Costa Rica" to the lovably messy, low-key rocker "She Sees the Good in Everyone (Because she's Not Very Bright)", to the closing appeal for patience "Don't Let the Motorcyclists", where Wells has a campfire singalong with his own multi-tracked voice.

{ www.abandonedloverecords.com }


this month's issue
archive
about erasing clouds
links
contact
     

Copyright (c) 2005 erasing clouds