Search - Travis Morrison :: Travistan

Not a great album, but not as bad as one is lead to think ..

E. J. Sawdey | Galesburg, IL United States | 10/01/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"People now hate Travis Morrison. 'Why' is a hard call. First of all was the sudden dismemberment of the Dismemberment Plan, one of the greatest indie rock bands of all time (ranking up with Pavement, Death Cab for Cutie and the like). After four albums (the latter two hailed as masterpieces), the plan to un-Plan was questioned by many. Yet, the further time passes, the more impressive their legacy becomes. While their post-Plan projects certainly haven't had the best of success (see Eric Axelson, the Plan's former and still-phenomenal bassist doing mere background noise for Maritime), Travis has hogged the indie-headlines ... and now, his solo effort is called an "indie rock trainwreck."



And upon first listen of "Travistan" - one could see why.



It's an album that's both accessible and completely alienating at the same time. The main reason is that Travis is trying to shove so many musical ideas into one song - every 5 seconds feels like a completely different song shoved into the track's space ("My Two Front Teeth, Pt 2-3" being one of the best examples for this). A lot of this can be attributed to Chris Walla, Death Cab member and one of the most veratile producers in rock music today. His kitchen-sink and highly-polished production is truly all over the place. From a mere production standpoint alone, this is quite possibly one of the best albums of the year. There's nothing wrong in that department. If you must blame anyone for the album's inconsistancies, blame Travis.



Yet, at least realize what he's done first.



The most glaring flaw of the album is the terrible sequencing, mostly brought out by "Get Me Off this Coin A-D" - a song that's divided into four parts and smeared throughout the album. The song in itself is OK, not the greatest (lyrically actually quite amusing), but hearing it not once, but four times, proves to annoying, divides the album into very distinct and schizophrenic acts, and just raises eyebrows. One such "act" opens with what may be the weakest song on the album, the Donkey Kong digidrum of "People Die" - a song that, if placed elsewhere on the lP, would've been much easier to digest. Opening with the eight-pop-songs-in-one happiness of "Change" wasn't the best of choices either.



So, with all this naysaying, one might be lead to believe that there aren't any good songs on this album. The cut-n-paste of styles that is "Born in '72", the piano-rolling rocker that is "The Word Cop", the beautified schizo-pop of "Che Guerva Poster" ("You know the one / black and red / Christ in a berret") and the folky "Any Open Door" are all welcome songs to Morrison's cannon. They're funny, sometimes frightfully condescending, yet undeniably fun and insightful. It's easy to attack the album, but the songs themselves actually get better with repeated plays.



Then comes "Angry Angel" - a lovely, affecting ballad that is very plantive, yet hits on some wonderful universal lyrical points. And then, the undeniable highlight, the untitled title track, which can be best described as a "more organic" Postal Service. Though his voice is distorted, it proves why he lead the Plan into indie fame in the first place: because he wrote good songs ... damn good songs.



On a personal note, I must say I had extremely high expectations for this album. When I listened to it the first time through, they were all shattered, and I was very disappointed. Yet, coming back to it, even a song at a time, has proven worthwhile - these ARE some wonderful songs. Do I personally think Travis is capable of more? Of course. Yet one can't be mad at a man for wanting to experiment, a man wanting to try and create something new, even if it doesn't work all the time. I am really warming up to it ... and even though I still hate using "I" in a review, it still must be said: easy to judge, hard to love, but, in the end, paitence is a virtue, and this is just one of those examples as to why it can pay off so well."

Outstanding

Joe Smith | Kentucky | 12/04/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First and foremost...I'm sorry Travis Morrison. I was a huge fan of dismemberment plan. But when I read the review of your CD on Pitchforkmedia, I was to say the least...confused. 0.0!?!? But they loved Emergency & I!?!? So for the longest time I put off buying this album for fear of being let down...I am a fool...This is the furthest thing from disapointing let alone a 0.0 rating. Pitchfork gave Wolf Eyes new album an 8.0. Have you heard Wolf Eyes? I have. Not horrible. Not an 8.0. So the lesson here is, don't believe critics, I learned this the hard way. I am in no way discrediting Pitchfork (I read it every morning and if I don't I become cranky) but if you are a fan of the plan...buy this album...it is fantastic and fun. I am sorry you got beat up. That was so not cool.



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