Kweller's youth creates crafty melodies
By JULIE BENDER
Scene Music Critic
Just when you thought music with a melody could only be contrived by paid pop songwriters and spit out through prepped and primed teens with slick dance moves, there comes a savior. He has arrived out of Greenville, Texas, and brings with him an album full of humorously modern lyrics and masterful melodies that linger on your tongue for days. His name: Ben Kweller. On his second solo record, Sha Sha (released on Dave Matthews label), Kweller displays his slightly punk–flavored charm on both the guitar and piano. If you can imagine a combined effort of Ben Folds Five, Dashboard Confessional and a modern-day Buddy Holly, the result would be Sha Sha.
Opening the album is a bouncy piano number entitled "How it Should Be (sha sha)." As the song proceeds, it slowly fills with bopping background vocals, the twinkling of keyboard effects and a punching drumbeat. Kweller seems to be singing his lyrics straight-faced and serious when really they are quite laughable: "And don't bother me when I'm watching Planet of the Apes on TV/ That's right/ That's how it should be/ Sha sha/ Sha doo." The quite sudden ending of this song in a blast of silence leads right into the next track, "Wasted and Ready."
A more-guitar oriented song, "Wasted and Ready" oscillates between acoustic strumming backed by a French horn and an angry, grunge-like guitar chorus. In the same manner, the lyrics change between quiet introspection: "I'll continue to be my worst enemy/ It's easy but it seems so hard/ You're near but you seem so far," to loud mockery: "She is a slut but X thinks it's sexy/ Sex reminds her of eating spaghetti/ I am wasted but I'm ready." With no apparent meaning, the lyrics of this song actually evolve from the movie Doom Generation, in which one of the characters comments "Sex is like eating spaghetti."
Perhaps the best song on the album, "Family Tree" has Kweller harmonizing with himself beautifully in his Texan drawl. With this song, Kweller confesses his dependency on his lover as he struggles to give advice to others attempting to make it on their own: "But who am I to preach a word or two/ When I can't lift my own head without you?/ … A broken branch I'd be if you weren't grown to me/ Oh, you are my family tree/ Be good to me." With a countrified guitar and a chirping background vocals, "Family Tree" is an easy listener. Amidst a rambling piano filler at the end, Kweller melodiously "bops" his way out of the song and leaves you nodding your head and tapping your foot.
As much as Kweller tinges his album with irony and humor, he also reveals his ability to pen songs of a more somber and serious nature. "In Other Words" is a quietly chilling song that winds its lyrics around a haunting piano melody. The song offers up questions about what is beautiful and what is real in life. Kweller speaks of an unidentified "he" and touches on the ambiguity of the movement of time. He sings: "In his eyes I see the fear/ That only time can disappear/ If only time could reappear/ Now is the time."
If there is any complaint about this album, it's that the songs are all structurally very similar. They all start with a catchy rhythm that bleeds into a quiet first verse. The songs take on a crescendo and build to every chorus eventually leading to an ending that filters out.
One song on the album that veers from this pattern is the quiet "Lizzy." This track opens with some bluesy guitar picking which reiterates itself periodically throughout the song. Tackling the issue of being far away from a girlfriend, this song is softly touching. Kweller sings reassuringly, "Telephone/ Tellin' you/ I'll be home soon/ Dienu/ I love you."
The final song, "Falling," closes the album on a high note. A beautiful piano melody that all at once seems new and somehow nostalgic is central to the song. Kweller sings of a fast paced world where all he wants to do is slow down and enjoy the pleasure of love: "We could talk if days weren't so fast/ And mistakes just leave it so unsure/ Wanna hold you like never before/ 'Cause we're falling and I love you more and more." The perfect ending, this song leaves you softly humming and anxious to press the repeat button.
Sha Sha, though by no means a masterpiece, shows promise for the future career of Kweller. Only 20-years-old, this musician has lots of time to perfect his musicianship and song-writing abilities. A wonderful musician, Kweller's knack for melodies promises us this won't be the last we hear of him. Catch him on tour this spring and also as an opening act for both Dashboard Confessional and Dave Matthews Band.
(four out of five shamrocks)
Contact Julie Bender at jbender@nd.edu
All Scene Stories for Tuesday, March 26, 2002
