Joseph Arthur - Vagabond Skies [EP]

Lonely Astronaut Records

August 2, 2008, 12:57 AM

Very few artists release four EPs on four months but this is the kind of self-promotion and creative process that American musician Joseph Arthur likes. He took a similar approach back in 2002 with the four Junkyard Hearts EPs. So the six track Vagabond Skies EP is the third in the current series. As expected, it is a mixed bag.

Opener 'Slow Me Down' is a fairly standard guitar and voice piece, wonderfully produced and beautifully played. Arthur's vocals are deliciously soft, like Mark Lanegan with all the edges removed. As the song begins to fill out, bringing in more instrumentation and an up-tempo arrangement, it brings out more emotion in his voice. He is matched by distant ghostly choir-like backing vocals. An excellent start.

'Even When Yer Blue' is not great. The vocals are shaky; the guitar work disjointed and persistently loud. Again the same backing choir is used and already feels overworked. Likewise 'Pretty Good Company' changes the vocals yet again, and brings in some electronics. It is all beginning to sound like the result of Marilyn Manson making a folk album. Even the lyrics sound typically bleak: "How can we tell which one of us is sane? My chemical beast turning pleasure into pain. Riddle me this: what the hell's your name?" and so on. Musically it is, at least, interesting echoing some of the tricks used on previous EP 'Crazy Rain'.

'She Paints Me Gold' is different yet again, the vocals dreamy and soaked in sunlight and haze. The guitar work is mainly uninspired until about two minutes in when it all goes a bit Chris Isaak and then into a wonderful long winding guitar solo. 'Second Sight' is more electronic backing fused with some pleasant guitars. Then it gets noisy and horrible, back to Manson territory. This annoying juxtaposition, coupled with a vacuous drum machine, continues. Closing song 'It's Too Late' is a real surprise. The vocals are back to a sublime mix of normality and luscious falsetto. The chorus is utterly brilliant - subtle and controlled.

Making so much music in a short period of time may stimulate the creative process but what you end up with is lots of haystacks and very few needles. Joseph Arthur is in danger of creating a massive catalogue of songs, some of which will appeal and some that will not. And this is the problem. Arthur has way too many ideas, a lack of clear direction and no consistency. Any sentiment gets lost in the mist and nothing reaches out like 'Rages Of Babylon' from 'Could We Survive'. You may like one track but are less enthused by the next, and so on. Maybe he needs a different approach. He could put all his songs onto a digital jukebox, presented in a searchable website, so his fans can create and download custom playlists. Then you can just get what you want and ignore the rest.

5/10