Please be advised: these songs are intoxicatingly mellow. Three parts indie, two parts ambient, one part lounge jazz, a splash of horns and bass tones reminiscent of Cake, and garnished with ephemeral vocals that serve more as instruments than as words, W.W. Lowman's Plain Songs E.P. is a sonically seductive cocktail. While much of music today is pre-packaged to be consumed and pissed out within three weeks, Plain Songs begs you to drink slowly; I'm still sipping in this wonderful little album.
Don't allow the title to deceive you: Plain Songs is anything but plain. The album's first track, "Tea till Ten," begins with a droning that develops into a soft yet driving guitar lead. It both welcomed me in and had me wondering what to expect: pop-punk; an experimental melody; crashing, tube-driven guitars. Wrong… I was completely off. Lowman next introduces flutes that rise and fall over the lead line before cutting to smooth rhythm guitars. Lowman's voice enters next-his soft tones mimicking the rhythm guitar-before a joyful round of voices unravels in ba-da-da-daaa's and ba-bop's: simultaneously drawing me in and sending me out from the song. It has that feel of a child's sing-along without being juvenile.
Complexity dominates the six-song E.P., and with just cause: Lowman spent three years developing its textured flow. Lowman's interest in classical composition winds its way through a pop-music filter to produce a crafted yet catchy album. The fourth track on Plain Songs, "Batie,"-which Lowman has made available for free download on http://www.myspace.com/wwlowman-is the early lead for my favorite; although this album doesn't lend itself to favorites, with each track being part of a greater whole. Unexpected drum fills tango with an introductory lead line that hums just out of their flittering reach. Midway through, a more prominent line-singed by tube-overdrive-stabs into the mix, vying for primacy, decaying into feedback, clipping and calling out until the two collide and fuse, pealing away into the distance like a lone car driving off after last call.
As I listened to Plain Songs-driving to work at 5:30 A.M., drunk on the movement within each song, captivated by the flow from one track to the next-I wondered how to categorize Lowman's music. Was music created to be cordoned off into shelf-ready categories, or should it simply be… simply envelop you where you stand, drink, walk, cook a meal, jog, read, socialize, rest, or drive? Plain Songs accomplishes the latter without disintegrating into white noise.
If Plain Songs is just the beginning for W.W. Lowman, we are all in for a treat. The E.P. is solid across the board, and definitely worth picking up, though I'm most looking forward to a full-length from him. Bank on it: a W.W. Lowman full-length will be worth every penny.
-Tim Avery
the_kitchen_sinks@yahoo.com