Upon listening to this cd for the first time, I began to wonder how this relatively new indie label, Zero Hour, is able to release so many records. It seems to me every time I turn around there is a new band with a release on this label (Grover, Space Needle, etc.). But then as the disc played on I realized this label signs good bands. And, I guess since the bands are good it can afford to keep putting this stuff out knowing that someone will buy it.
Varnaline's first release Man of Sin shows some real potential. A single man, Anders Parker, recorded this entire album on his own and proved himself somewhat of a good (there is that word again) song craftsman. According to the press kit the songs on this recording were all written "through a guitar, a sheet of paper and a voice." This is a good thing; as a musician, a good rule for me has always been if you can play a song on guitar alone and still think it is good, it probably is. But Parker did not stop there. Anyone could write a bunch of mediocre songs on a guitar so Parker had to do something to set them apart. This something was production.
The production on this cd is textured and varied. Unfortunately, not all the chances Parker took worked out. Slower, more guitar oriented songs such as "Thorns & Such" and "Little Pills" seem lost in the translation from guitar to finished product. They are still acoustic guitar songs, and in the context of this album that is a bad thing since many of the tracks became so much more. Some of the more successful tracks on the record include more upbeat songs like "The Hammer Goes Down" and "In the Year of Dope". These songs have a bigger sound that would actually lead one to believe that Varnaline is a band and not just a guy with some songs and a lot of equipment. Since this outfit is now a bonified band with the addition of John Parker and Jud Ehrbar, future releases will hopefully continue down this path of actual "band" songs. Tracks that turned out the best were the weirder ones. Songs like "Dust" and "No Decision No Disciple" very wonderfully reflect Anders' roots in bands like the aforementioned Space Needle (he is referred to as "the elusive third member" of this band). These songs have the low-fi fuzz of the Voyager cd which is by far the best release from this New York label. The techniques used to record tracks like these is very interesting. The songs still retain the subtleties that make them interesting and then are coupled with the droney din of tape hiss. The Zero Hour bands seem to know how to do this in a way I have not heard before and it really works. This technique works for Parker's songs extremely well since the undermixing of vocals and guitars does not allow any one instrument to stand out and leaves space for everything. It is at times like this that you realize the concept of Varnaline is a very solid one that holds much promise for the future, if the addition of the other musicians allows the evolution of the project into an actual band.
