REVIEW: Kendra Smith, Five Ways of Diappearing (4AD/Warner)

- Lee Graham Bridges

Brian Eno once said that "the purpose of art is to distract the viewer." However, the art created by Kendra Smith on this album is more than distracting--it is often tiring and annoying.

She began her musical career in the early 80's with The Dream Syndicate, which led the pack of LA's "neo-psychedelic" bands. After leaving the band in 1983, she was involved in various projects and wound up meeting David Roback, with whom she formed the band Opal. But after a few years, she departed from the band mid-tour because Roback did not share her "desire to delve into more unorthodox modes of expression." Hope Sandoval took Kendra's place in the band, which changed its name to Mazzy Star.

After taking a 3-year pause, she recorded with the Guild of Temporal Adventurers (A. Philip Uberman of that band helped out on Five Ways). It seems as though this was the band she was most comfortable with, yet she never really joined.

Even for her disjointed career, it seems strange that anyone would start off a solo career with an album like this. Smith's lyrics remind me of what a typical teenager is like--too silly to be serious, too pretentious to have an impact. "Maggots" is funny the first time around, but later becomes highly nerve-racking. Tracks like "Judge Not" and "Get There" are a joke lyrically, compared to more artistic, better organized lyrics on the irresistible "Valley of the Morning Sun" ("In the valley of the morning sun / all is lost, all is one / Consider Sir Richard Francis Burton / Captain get your jacket on"), "Bold Marauder" and others. Unfortunately, Smith only achieves lyrical greatness a line or two at a time. And her voice, sounding a bit like Lida Husik or the Breeders' Kim Deal, is another unique, yet not necessarily attractive part of the Kendra Smith experience.

Guitars, synths, a pump organ and even an Indian harmonium drone along wearily as Smith sings about spaceships and futuristic hallucinations. "Bohemian Zebulon" is a complete failure, falling on its face due mostly to the song's dominant pump organ, which sounds like an overused toy rather than a musical instrument. And although many songs are quite enjoyable musically, Smith's poor lyrics often defeat the purpose (i.e. "Judge Not" or "Temporarily Lucy").

In her quest to create original soundscapes and lyrical techniques, Smith made Five Ways too mediocre and inaccessible to be accepted even by some die hard 4AD fans (at least for a first album), and not creative enough to gain a cult following in the future.