October 2001 • Rockbites Alternative Daily
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Ken Stringfellow offers up pop masterpiece 4 October 2001
Perhaps events conspired to make Touched a solo record because that’s exactly what these songs needed, as personal and infused with unaffected emotion as they are. On first listen I was instantly hooked but bemused. Here were songs that measure by measure were as radio friendly as could be, jangly and melodic and happy. But if this was radio fodder, something was more than a bit off. The piercing words? The subtle but maniacally subversive way Stringfellow fucks with pop and country musical progressions? The startling juxtaposition of wholly disconnected textures that somehow adhere perfectly to each other? The implied invitation to come on, dive in, it’s lovely? Whatever, I kept listening and after a dozen or so times through—with my appreciation evolving as I slowly grasped this truly original music—I am pleased to report that Touched, written by an adopted orphan born in San Francisco who now calls Seattle home, is a genuine pop classic. Mitch Easter (producer for R.E.M., Suzanne Vega, Marshall Crenshaw, Pavement, Helium; front man for Let’s Active) produced Touched with Stringfellow. Guest musicians on the record include drummer Eric Marshall (Let’s Active), bassist Tony Shanahan (Patti Smith), pedal steel guitarist Ron Preston (Ferlin Huskey, Chris Ledoux), and a handful of strings players. Their ensemble work is nothing short of masterful. Touched was first picked up by Alan McGee, founder of the legendary Creation Records and now head of London indie label Poptones. Los Angeles based Manifesto (an indie that has nothing to do with the UK Vivendi subsidiary of the same name) is publishing the set Stateside. The two versions of Touched have the same songs and order but completely different covers. While critics tend to compare Stringfellow to Alex Chilton’s super influential pop band Big Star (with whom Stringfellow played for a while) and to Cheap Trick, the new record plays with musical quotation of Australian band The Church, Britpop band The Boo Radleys, some ’70s era Elton John, and (on the track Fireflies) a warped melding of The Beach Boys & The Beatles on the one hand, and early King Crimson & Pink Floyd on the other—evoking a bit of the feel of French duo Mellow. And the track The Lover’s Hymn, probably my favorite on the disc, gives us Stringfellow’s take on romantic soul à la Smokey Robinson. Yes, this record has what it takes to become a multi-platinum chart killer, it’s that finely crafted and coherent and hook-filled. Nah, probably won’t happen. In any case, for now us indiephiles can revel in its beauty unfettered by that stigma, just like it was glorious to love Coldplay’s Parachutes album before it hit US radio. Five bites out of five. Rockbites ratings 5: life changing, 4: stunning, 3: captivating, 2: amusing, 1: annoying. Ken Stringfellow plays a one-off at Dallas, Texas’s Gypsy Tea Room on Friday. He expects to stage a major solo tour in February. | Ken Stringfellow on Manifesto | | CD from Amazon US | | CD from Amazon UK | | top of page | |
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