Rifle Recoil - Verizon Shine [Album]

Louis & James

November 13, 2009, 01:35 PM

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by Rob H [More from this Author]

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"Verizon Shine" is name of the debut LP from Rifle Recoil. I had to spend several days listening to this album before I felt ready to review it. That should be considered a compliment I guess. This is a dense, layered, challenging, and at times a beautiful album. The most remarkable thing about it, in my opinion, is that Rifle Recoil is one man, Jeff Kessel.

Often when I listen to a musical project put together by a single artist, I find the music a little thin. The strength of the musical ensemble is the varying perspectives, then sometimes competing musical voices. Often a single artist just doesn’t bring enough to the studio and can’t fertilize his own ideas. Jeff Kessel is a rare musician who has it all. A sweet and occasionally powerful voice, equal facility on the guitar and keyboards, solid percussion skills, consummate groovesmithing abilities, and even respectable beat-boxing.

In some ways, "Verizon Shine" sounds like exactly what you would expect from a musician playing with a Boomerang loop pedal. A staple of the release is songs that are built layer upon layer, repeating phrases and adding to them over time. Kessel does this on many of the tracks. In fact, most of the tracks have very few lyrics. In one song, we are told "It’s gonna be okay" over 70 times. Surely you can guess what the name of that track is? Likewise in “Nobody Cares” that phrase is repeated no less than 120 times. For all this repetition, the songs don’t usually get boring because every 4 bars a new element is added. The final result is usually a rich sonic landscape that you can really dissect with a pair of headphones, listening to how the elements play off the overall theme and each other.

"Verizon Shine" ranges all over, from partial covers of Outkast, The Clash, and Marvin Gaye to clever original compositions and playful instrumental pieces. In particular, I want to recommend a few of my favourites from this release. ‘Lonely Sailor’ is one of only three songs with actual verses of lyrics. The appealing vocal melody makes me wish he did more of this, like he does on another great track, ‘Prototype.’ After a full minute of intro he says, “I hope you the one. If not, you are the prototype.” The song is both pretty and clever. 'All I Need' is a cover of the old Marvin Gaye / Tammi Terrell song and is the winner on this disc. Human beat box percussion backs an otherwise acappella version that croons and eventually wails just the chorus. It is infectious and brilliant.

Repeating phrases and building grooves is good as long as the central idea itself is strong. There are a couple tracks, like ‘Bad Girl’ and ‘Streets of America’ where I wasn’t crazy about the initial loop, so building on it for four more minutes didn’t do much for me. For the most part, however, the disc is strong and the rich interplay of ideas rescues a repetitive release from being monotonous. Pick up a copy of “Verizon Shine” and put on a pair of headphones. This is a remarkable release, particularly for a debut. I expect we will be hearing more from Jeff Kessell.