His Name Is Alive's progression over the last decade is a fascinating one. The band's 4AD debut, Livonia, was a sparse, brooding album that fit in very well with the 4AD sound of the time. The follow up, 1992's Home Is in Your Head, found Warn Defever (the man essentially responsible for all of the groups work and its only consistent member) immensely improving his songwriting skills and providing a fuller, prettier and more engaging record. The following album, 1993's Mouth by Mouth, was the first of many significant changes to HINA's sound. The ethereal melancholy of previous albums was there, but captured in an poppier, upbeat shell. Each subsequent album further reinvented the bands sound; 1996's Stars on E.S.P. was an amazing work inspired by the Beach Boys and A.M. radio, featuring songs from Mark Kozelek and Ian Masters; 1997's Nice Day E.P. added a Motown feel and featured vocalists from a gospel choir used briefly on Stars; and 1998's Fort Lake provided a handful of Rock tracks with the notable addition of the occasional drum machine or synth and introduced Lovetta Pippen (a member of the Gospel choir from Stars) as a regular vocalist. Now, three years later, Defever drops Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth, and if you expected it, well, you deserve a cookie.
Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth does not sound much like the His Name Is Alive of past, and it does not sound at all like Indie-Rock. Why? Because Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth is an R&B record. WHAT?!? Yes, an R&B record, and a good one at that. While the songs on Blues are more or less structurally the same as their counterparts on When the Stars Refuse to Shine (an album featuring early versions of songs from Blues released on time STEREO two years after Ft. Lake), Defever makes one very significant addition: drum machines!
The album opens up with its strongest track, "Nothing Special," a bit of a downer with a restrained, head bobbing beat, pulsating bassline and pretty melody all sandwiched between a soothing, droning string texture that weaves itself in and out and all around the track. Pippen is noticeably more at home singing here than on either Nice Day or Ft. Lake. "Nothing Special" is followed by one of a few wandering interludes on the album, sounding much like Flashpap?r with a piano or maybe Defever's latest solo outing, When Flowers Covered the Earth.
The third track is a departure for HNIA for a different reason: the lyrics are coherent. Lyrics like "The best thing I've done I've found out / Was losing you / Now everything I do / Don't Depend on you" are by far the most straightforward to ever come from the band. When listening to Blues, I can't help but wonder how much Pippen was involved. Previous HNIA releases were exclusively Defever driven and have a certain endearing quirkiness; even the songs written by Masters and Kozelek on Stars were supposedly composed from lyric sheets passed out by Defever. It's nice to hear HNIA songs that make sense, but at the same time I feel that something is lost.
The rest of the album follows the template set by the first few tracks with little variation. "Write My Name in the Groove" is a bubbly number with synth and bass lines reminiscent of the more playful moments of Ft. Lake and works rather well; "Your Cheating Heart" has a similar sound but becomes a bit dull with the ironically fitting repetition of the lyric "Wish you would stop playing that same old song / It's driving me crazy / Won't you leave it alone." The drum machines are turned off for "The Last Affair," a lovely, aching song comparable to the finer moments of When the Stars Refuse to Shine, even if it is on the cheesy side. The rest of the album finds Defever revisiting old tunes (with "One Year" from his I Want You to Live 100 Years solo album and "Are We Still Married" from Home Is in Your Head) as well as presenting the oddball "Karins Blues," which is the only actual blues track on the album.
As a whole, Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth works on two different levels: (1) as a standalone album, it's a reasonably strong R&B effort (especially considering where it's coming from), skipping from danceable to gorgeous and back again (2) as another step in the evolution of a noteworthy band, it's even better, displaying yet another aspect of Warn Defever's talent as a producer and musician.
The rest of the album follows the template set by the first few tracks with little variation. "Write My Name in the Groove" is a bubbly number with synth and bass lines reminiscent of the more playful moments of Ft. Lake and works rather well; "Your Cheating Heart" has a similar sound but becomes a bit dull with the ironically fitting repetition of the lyric "Wish you would stop playing that same old song / It's driving me crazy / Won't you leave it alone." The drum machines are turned off for "The Last Affair," a lovely, aching song comparable to the finer moments of When the Stars Refuse to Shine, even if it is on the cheesy side. The rest of the album finds Defever revisiting old tunes (with "One Year" from his I Want You to Live 100 Years solo album and "Are We Still Married" from Home Is in Your Head) as well as presenting the oddball "Karins Blues," which is the only actual blues track on the album.
As a whole, Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth works on two different levels: (1) as a standalone album, it's a reasonably strong R&B effort (especially considering where it's coming from), skipping from danceable to gorgeous and back again (2) as another step in the evolution of a noteworthy band, it's even better, displaying yet another aspect of Warn Defever's talent as a producer and musician.
1. Nothing Special
2. Interlude
3. Happy Blues
4. Solitude
5. Write My Name in the Groove
6. Your Cheating Heart
7. Our Last Affair
8. One Year
9. Interlude
10. Karins Blues
11. Are We Still Married
12. Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth
13. Last Time
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