To be fair, the title track of this little EP, By Any Other Name, can be quietly affecting. It's a light, plaintive song with a tenderly crestfallen chorus that may elicit a bittersweet twinge. But it's still insidiously blah in nature. All three songs seem to have some feeling behind them, but the hyperbole-driven blurbs in John Guilt's press materials don't begin to hint at the nagging staleness of the material. The lyrics are slight and corny in that typical drab, sensitive-guy, indie-schlock mode. And since there are no other moments as melodically rich as the chorus of "By Any Other Name," there's not much else to focus on.
"23 revolutions" is limp Neil Young-ish dirge and "Cake on an Infant's Face" is like a half-assed Dirty Three outtake with insipid simile lyrics about "life." Sheesh. I love folk music -- particularly underground folk music -- but this is just lame. You can do better than John Guilt. The trio's about as middling and dull as this sort of music gets.
I've digressed to name-calling. Let me put it this way: if you're not like me and you love Sun Kil Moon and Damien Rice and all of these ultra-safe pusses passing for introspective folk luminaries these days, you should check this out...
*sigh*
Why can't I just be nice!? If you don't have anything nice to say... But, in the reviews biz, that rule of thumb doesn't quite work. Bad press is more hospitable than no press at all. So let me just say that this EP has some lovely cardboard packaging, akin to that of Rachel's and June of 44. You can pick it up at johnguilt.com (what you do with the disc is your business).
1. By Any Other Name
2. 23 Revolutions
3. Cake on an Infant's Face
More about: John Guilt
