When the fourth Google hit for your name is an article on how destroyed your solo career is (on account of near universally bad reviews for 2004’s Travistan), it might be kind of a downer. I mean, does Toni Morrison have to endure such scrutiny? Far from it.
But then, a comical barrage of poor reviews was probably the quickest way to turn a smug critical wunderkind into a scrappy industry underdog. A rebranding of the "former Dismemberment Plan lead singer" to an "uncertain, possible, sort of eccentric genius," who, after writing most of the just-released All Y’All in "early 2005," went through "some unsatisfactory attempts to record them" then "stopped working on it" to sing in church choirs and volunteer around D.C.
America loves an underdog. And it’s a great day when you can cast the critics as the bad guys and keep going. "Morrison fights against evil indie empire establishment" in big marquee lights. Great stuff. I don’t even care how the new record sounds; I’ve already bought the hype. Plus, his band’s called the ‘Hellfighters.’
