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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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Joe Pernice: King of Pain
Wednesday 16 July @ 11:28:19 |
 by Rob van Alstyne
Joe Pernice knows the magic of sad songs. Over the course of eight albums encompassing a wide array of musical genres, Pernice’s downbeat lyrical sentiment has been the one unifying constant. Pernice doesn’t struggle with his lyrical identity though: “At this point I’ve resigned myself to the fact that lyrically I am pretty much a dark guy.” This admission, from a man who once kicked off an album (2000’s Chappaquiddick Skyline) with the lyric “I hate my life,” probably amounts to the understatement of the year.
Pernice’s latest creation with his current pop vehicle, the Pernice Brothers’ Yours, Mine & Ours, represents a sharp turn away from the sunny pop and heavily orchestrated tunes that dominated the band’s previous release, 2001’s The World Won’t End. A crunchier guitar-driven sound dominates, with the fuzzed-out bass lines of “One Foot in the Grave”; and dance-y electric guitar shards of “Sometimes I Remember” revealing a fondness for Head on the Door-era Cure and New Order previously unrevealed. Some things remain the same, however, and even given a new slick rock exterior, Pernice’s head is geared toward sadness. Yours, Mine & Ours provides a riveting display of Pernice’s perfect knack for wedding depressive thoughts to upbeat pop.
Listeners should anticipate being distracted from the bitter heartbreak thread running throughout the album’s ten songs by the ringing guitars and memorable melodies present on every track. Completely missing out on the words would be a shame, however, as Pernice’s pen is particularly sharp on Yours, Mine & Ours, spinning tales of downtrodden women and depressive loners with an eye for detail and clever wordplay that elevate him to elite songwriter status. “When I write lyrics it just sort of flows out of me. I know that sounds corny and new-agey, but that’s how it happens. I certainly edit and refine the original thing, but it happens instinctively.” Pernice’s no-frills approach to songwriting appears to be working; the man recently dropped his eighth full-length album in as many years, and no signs of sloppy songwriting have yet emerged.
Pernice strikes such a thoroughly convincing pose as a new-wave rocker on Yours, Mine & Ours that it’s hard to believe he first rose to prominence fronting a rootsy alt. Country band, Massachusetts’ Scud Mt. Boys. The Scuds were a hugely influential band within the nascent alt. Country genre of the mid-90s, fusing a somber late night vibe with weepy pedal steel and Pernice’s thought-provoking words. The band released three records—1996’s Massachusetts is a true classic of the genre—and garnered volumes of critical acclaim from the alt. Country cognoscenti once. Pernice certainly had a good thing going, which is why many were shocked when he dissolved the band in an effort to direct his songwriting into pop territory.
“I understand that there will always be people who want me to return to the Scud Mt. Boys and that sound. I’ll play out live and fans will request those songs and I don’t mind playing them. As far as returning to that direction on record though, it just isn’t something I’m interested in doing, mainly because there are so many other ways to go. I look at song-writing as the roots of a tree, to stay and write in only one area would get boring. What makes being a musician exciting for me is that ability to explore.”
Pernice’s statement rings true when examining his recorded work in the wake of the Scuds dissolution. Chappaquiddick Skyline was a dark, acoustically-oriented affair whereas Big Tobacco saw him returning to some of the elements central to the Scuds sound while still maintaining his newfound pop smarts. The unabashedly lush The World Won’t End showed a flair for tying disparate 70s elements with true Bacharachian gusto. Yours, Mine & Ours may very well be Pernice’s greatest recorded achievement yet—an incessantly melodic record that’s instantly accessible yet stands up to innumerable listens. Every song has at least one mesmerizing musical moment (witness the killer outro on “One Foot in the Grave” for a reference point) or memorable lyrical passage.
Yours, Mine & Ours is a shamelessly pop affair in its ambition and execution, but is Joe Pernice worried that he might ever get carried away with his pop aspirations? “There’s always the threat of going too far with anything. Fortunately, the safeguard for me is that my voice is always a little too flat and my songs are a little too minor key for me to end up sounding like Seal or somebody.” Joe Pernice may not be the Seal of indie pop (thankfully), but he makes a strong case for being the genre’s most talented songwriter.
Pernice Brothers play Sat., July 19, at the recently re-opened Fine Line Music Cafe with Warren Zanes and The Tyde (from L.A.).$11 adv/ $13 door. 21+. 8:30 p.m. 318 1st Avenue North, Mpls. 612-338-8100
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