Eugene weekly., October 13, 2005, Page 43, Image 43

BY TIM O’ROURKE
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Ring Around the Posies
Planted firmly between love and politics
shows-in-25-days tour stretch. “It’s an ex-
If you took a seven-year hiatus from
periment that worked … There’s much
your primary occupation, the result would
more room for exploration in the music.
probably make your mother cry, your belly
We’d spend time chasing a sound. It was
grow, and your plans for the future disinte-
very refreshing in that sense.”
grate in the face of infomer-
Posies
The break-up seven years
cials, PBR and utter shame.
w/Oranger
ago was a mutual one between
The Posies could have taken
10 pm, Mon, 10/17
Stringfellow and Auer, band-
this route during their break
John Henry’s, $3-$5
mates since their days breakin’
from releasing new music.
all the rules and living dangerously in the
But they’re better than you, so they
high school choir together. “This is how
graced their fans with a live album, a great-
much of a stud I am,” says vocalist and gui-
est hits, and a box set. And founders Jon
tarist Auer. “I lettered in choir three times.”
Auer and Ken Stringfellow collectively ap-
The sound of The Posies in the 1990s
peared on 12 other albums. Don’t worry:
was less choir and more inspired pop, usu-
We know you, dear reader, would have been
ally focusing on the timeless themes of love
just as constructive — even with the PBR.
and love lost. But with Every Kind of Light,
With seven years to contemplate how to
things have changed a bit. Expatriate
reintroduce The Posies’ sound, you’d think
Stringfellow (who lives much of the year in
the new album would have been years in de-
France) introduced some politically-
velopment. But Auer, Stringfellow, drum-
charged lyrics to the familiar Posies equa-
mer Darius Minwalla and bassist Matt
tion, evident in “Could He Treat You
Harris wrote and recorded Every Kind of
Better,” which is an old-fashioned he’s-a-
Light in three weeks, a frenzied pace foreign
prick song; only the prick is George W. and
to The Posies of the 1990s, yet resulting in a
the abused is our nation.
sound vibrant and alive.
“They’re all songs about relationships,”
“It was a little bit like skydiving for the
says Auer. “It can be a relationship with a
first time. You didn’t know what to expect,”
person, your beliefs, or the place you
says Auer, as the band drives through
live.”
Canada, smack-dab in the middle of a 25-
ew
OCTOBER 13, 2005 31