Tube Sock Tongues and Make-Out Music: Stefan Beck Reviews 'Owen'

By Stefan Beck | Monday, October 29, 2001

Mike Kinsella has been making music for nearly fourteen years, since he was a mere teenager in Wheeling, Illinois. He has an admirable track record: he played drums in the seminal emo band Cap'n Jazz; four of Joan of Arc's six releases feature Mike on drums; he currently drums for the Owls (reviewed in TDR 9/17/01).

Unfortunately, much of his career has been spent in the shadow of his brother, Tim, front-man of the aforementioned bands. Mike earned some praise as vocalist and guitarist for American Football, but the band made only one album, in 1999, before going on hiatus. When people think emo, they usually think Tim Kinsella, the screechy savant who has been a mainstay of the Chicago scene for years.

It seems Mike Kinsella is ready to be his own man. Not only does his new album, Owen (Polyvinyl Records), not feature his brother; it doesn't feature anybody but Mike, Mike, Mike.

The story is as follows. With his band American Football on the back burner, Kinsella began to write and play new songs. Rainer Maria, another band on the Polyvinyl label, were so impressed that they asked him to tour with them. So he opened for the band for two months, playing guitar and singing, accompanied only by his own taped drum and guitar tracks.

After this tour, Kinsella decided to throw his entire recording budget into home equipment. In May 2001, he set up shop in his mother's basement, where he recorded, mixed, and produced Owen by himself.

Both the album and the band (if one man may be called a band) are titled Owen, which is supposedly a nickname for Kinsella's car. The name seems to serve as an alter-ego for Kinsella, whose name isn't mentioned anywhere on the album.

Owen is a gentle, melodic album. It's surprisingly light on drums, focusing on vocals and a delicate overlay of acoustic strumming and fingerpicking. The opener, 'That Which Wasn't Said,' is, as its title suggests, an instrumental. Its two minutes of subdued plucking set the tone for most of the album.

This is followed by a binary song: 'Most Days And,' followed by 'Most Nights.' The former establishes Owen's emotional tenor. It's hesitant, pensive, and more than a little lovelorn: Kinsella sings, 'I've been known to retreat / every few years / so what am I waiting for?' The latter is ever-so-slightly louder and more confident. It also features the only non-Kinsella touch on the album: beautiful (but too quiet) backing vocals courtesy of Rainer Maria's Caithlin de Marrais.
Kinsella's cautious, expressive vocals are a far cry from his brother Tim's trademark yelp. Mike's is a unique and sincere voice that, although it rarely raises above a whisper, will appeal to pretty much anybody.

'Accidentally' is Kinsella's only real miss. It's six minutes of pretty, but also pretty repetitive, acoustic noodling, without vocals, and it ends with a single note (feedback? Electronic noise?) sustained for over a minute.

Thankfully, it's followed by 'Declaration of Incompetence,' one of the album's finest tracks. It's a celebration of self-doubt: 'I've got nothing to say / I've got building blocks for teeth / and a tube sock for a tongue / I can't do anything.' The song starts off slow, but builds momentum with simple drumming and short, controlled bursts of rapid-fire picking.

'You Should Do It Now While It's On Your Mind' is the only downright angsty number on Owen. Its lyrics are strange but affecting: 'I saw you at the party / without a drink in hand / or a bird in mouth' and 'poor skinny fat kid / without any interest / in making friends.' Way, way in the background, there's a xylophone, a fragile, flute-like feedback drone, and a little bit of Caithlin de Marrais. 'Dead Men Don't Lie' uses the same guitar melody as 'Accidentally,' but it also has lyrics, and even drums, so it's not such a bad little song.

The real money tracks, however, are the two that close the album. 'Places To Go' and 'Think About It' are songs for special occasions; they're the mix-tape equivalent of Spanish Fly. 'Places To Go' whips out the first really aggressive guitar strumming (yes, 'strumming' can be 'aggressive') on the whole album. It reprises lyrics and chord progressions from 'You Should Do It,' but with more passion and energy. Then the song spills over, without pausing, into 'Think About It.' Here, the vocals are elaborately overlapped, and both Kinsella and De Marrais sing.

And the lyrics are muy rom∑ntico—stuff like this: 'If you go / you should know / should you lose your way / I'm staying at home.' It's plain to see that, even if Owen doesn't boast much variety, it's damn near the best make-out album to come around in years.

Tube Sock Tongues and Make-Out Music: Stefan Beck Reviews 'Owen'

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