REVIEW: Archer Prewitt, White Sky (Carrot Top)
- Chelsea Spear
Prepackaged autumnal chill rules the day on Archer Prewitt's latest album, White Sky. With song titles like "Summer's End," "Last Summer Days" and "Final Season," this album would be as inappropriate a soundtrack to throwing one's sweaters in mothballs and suffering hay fever as, say, Game Theory's Big Shot Chronicles is to contemplating the purchase of school supplies and raking dead leaves. Unfortunately, however, much of what gives White Sky its collegiate, fall-like feel is not the things that the song titles would suggest. Unfortunately, many parts of the album sound like the tunes emanating from upperclassmen dormitories of years past. The extensive song lengths ("Walking on the Farm" clocks in at 8:00, with a median song length of about five minutes), combined with the focus on jam session-esque interludes and general "chops" all around, brings no one but '70s jazz-rock avatars Steely Dan to mind. This wouldn't be such a bad thing were this (unintentional?) tribute committed with the toungue-in-cheek spirit of the Minutemen's "Dr. Wu" cover, except that Prewitt is lacking the jovial spirit and sense of humour that marked the entire recorded output of D. Boon and Mike Watt. Prewitt recapitulates the cold steel angles of rock music with esoteric influences with a straight face, making songs like the aforementioned "Walking on the Farm" unbearable to listen to.
A pity, really, since Prewitt's sonic playfulness and sense of humour made his earlier combo, the Coctails, a thoroughly enjoyable bunch. While this kind of jam-session musicianship has a time and a place, it would have been much more listenable had it been more carefully blended with a stronger sense of melody and playfulness. Some tracks showcase Prewitt's past, such as the lush and gorgeous "Raise on High," and others, such as the rueful "I'll Be Waiting," point him in a new direction. While White Sky is a much more assertive record than his previous album, In the Sun (which was so listenable that one only noticed when the CD stopped spinning), it's questionable whether moving from "easily listenable" to "at times actively annoying" is a step in the right direction. On the other hand, some tracks show the singer and songwriter's deft melodic skills, or show that less is more. Here's hoping his next album finds him forging ahead in a more positive and enjoyable direction.
