MARK EITZEL - Klamath

The charisma and rich artistic background of a figure of the stature of Mark Eitzel are more than enough to draw attention to any new release under his name, all the more so after a four-year gap since the controversial electronic album "Candy Ass" and alongside the significant reunion of his American Music Club, which first materialized in "Love Songs For Patriots" and the more recent "The Golden Age", and later unfolded around the world thanks to a busy live schedule.

And it is precisely from the long tour undertaken with the band that this work, titled after the Californian river Klamath, draws its origins to some extent: it was near this river that Eitzel retreated into almost complete isolation to recover from the strain of travelling and the many live shows. It was in that setting of solitary calm that the songs now collected on "Klamath" took shape, the fruit of the at once rough-edged and refined inspiration of the Walnut Creek songwriter, who here rediscovers the deepest and in some ways craftsman-like essence of songwriting stripped to the bone — a process in which, on the production side too, he is joined only by the understated percussion of Dave Douglas and the more pervasive keyboards of Franz Nicolay (Hold Steady) and his trusted American Music Club partner-in-crime, Marc Capelle.

Introduced by the unusual rippling frequencies of the brief instrumental "Buried Treasure", the songs on "Klamath" flow along without any particular jolts, guided by the expert hand of Eitzel who, having set aside the boozy visceral quality of his latest full-band records, tries his hand at crooning with elegant cadences, slowed-down melodies and frequent beats used to support the guitar and occasional piano notes. On a few occasions ("There's Someone Waiting", "What Do You Got For Me"), the sweet electro-acoustic textures are even given too much prominence, at times ending up blunting the expressive power of Eitzel, who is nonetheless a perfect interpreter of near-whispered nocturnal confessions ("I Miss You") and ballads centred on themes of distance and abandonment ("I Live In This Place").

Even when the tone and the narratives grow more intense, the sound always remains soft and atmospheric, echoing or simply underscoring flashes of a Cohen-esque brooding elegance and an expressive restraint that is a pleasure to find again in the recurring melodic caresses of a work that, without reaching the highest peaks of excellence, fully translates into music the context and spirit that presided over its creation.

The one exception — and the only electric track of the set — is the closing "Ronald Koal Was A Rock Star", which harks back to Eitzel's most classic ballads while still remaining faithful to the velvety, confidential style of a record that adds another piece to the lengthy discography of a fifty-something artist who has not yet lost the urge to offer his audience snapshots of an inspiration that, as ever, is filtered through a sharp pen and a spirit impervious to time.

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25/11/2009