Latest Built to Spill album shouldn’t be kept a secret
The band manages to stay
true to indie rock despite its
grounng popularity
Bryan Petersen
Oregon Daily Emerald
The title of the new Built to
Spill album may be “Keep
it Like a Secret,” but after
hearing it, you will want to do
anything but.
For those of you who haven’t
heard the hottest thing out of
Boise, Idaho, since the baked
potato, the band’s second major
label offering and fourth release
overall is an excellent place to
start.
Built to Spill is the brainchild
of singer/songwriter/guitarist ex
traordinaire Doug Martsch, who,
during the ’90s, has gone from in
die-guru to quite possibly the
next big thing. Besides fronting
Built to Spill, he has worked
with Calvin Johnson, the founder
of the Olympia, Wash., label “K
Records,” and the regionally
popular Halo Benders.
Martsch has had a habit of
changing the rhythm section on
every Built to Spill album so far.
However, on “Keep it Like a Se
cret,” he has apparently broken
that habit. Brett Nelson and Scott
Plouf will back him up from now
on, on bass and drums respec
tively. And this appears to be a
good thing.
This new combo is doubtlessly
one of the reasons why “Secret”
is such a powerful release. The
ten songs are perfect pop gems,
lush and atmospheric, with
hooks galore and enough catchy
melodies to fill your head for a
long time.
While “Perfect From Now
Keep it Like a Secret
Built to Spill
TYPE: Indie rock
PLAYING: March 13 at the
Crystal Ballroom in Portland
RATING:
★★★★A
On,” the band’s acclaimed debut
from Warner Brothers, took a lit
tle time to absorb, “Keep it Like a
Secret” has shorter, less dense
and more direct tunes that offer
lyrics that simultaneously chal
lenge and invite the listener to
learn and sing along.
Piouf and Nelson lay a solid
foundation for Martsch’s epic
wall of guitar. Built To Spill has
created a reputation for not fol
lowing a traditional verse-cho
rus-verse pattern, and “Keep it
Like a Secret” is in that vein,
with lots of rhythm change-ups
and shuffling beats.
It is Martsch’s guitar more than
his dreamy, earnest, little-boy
voice that is still the core of the
great Built To Spill sound. As I
listened to “Keep it Like a Se
cret” for the first time, one ques
tion kept going through my head:
how can Built to Spill really only
have one guitarist?
Martsch has always been
slightly out of fashion in the in
die-rock world, preferring to
play extravagant guitar solos
when it was considered uncool
to do so. On “Secret,” you can
hear the different flavors of
Martsch’s style scattered
throughout the album. It soars,
swoops, screams, cries, whines,
whispers and, in short, does
just about everything except re
cite the “Star Spangled Ban
ner.”
Songs such as the sublime
“Else” and “Carry the Zero" dis
play the flighty, ecstatic side of
Martsch’s playing, while “You
Were Right” and “The Plan” ex
emplify his ability to get down
and rock.
Lyrically, the album peaks on
the track “You Were Right." This
is the culmination of a lifetime
spent listening to FM radio, a bit
tersweet anthem that lyrically
samples other rock anthems from
the '70s and '80s, paying homage
to dusty rockers such as Kansas,
Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling
Stones.
When Martsch recorded “Per
fect From Now On,” longtime
fans wondered if he would be
able to make the jump from indie
darling to the big time while still
retaining musical validity. In oth
er words, fans wondered if he
had sold out.
Not Martsch. This is a man
who moved from Seattle, just
when things were really heating
up, to Boise. This is a man whose
music cannot go out of style be
cause it has never been in style
and has never tried to be. “Keep
it Like a Secret” stays true to
pure, blissed-out indie rock form
and, in doing so, breathes new
life into a genre in desperate
need of just that.
The ironic thing about “Keep it
Like a Secret” is that it may well
be the album that will ensure
Built to Spill’s future as bona fide
rock stars. Doug, if this is a prob
lem, then take this advice: Quit
recording albums full of perfect
music. Because if you don’t, then
Built to Spill will be a secret no
more.
SECRET
_& The Coast to Coast Blues Band
Booker T. Jones
(a/ Untilt r 7 and tlu
^ Kelly Joe Phelps
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