Mark Eitzel, songwriter and frontman of San Francisco-based band American Music Club, may be the single most overlooked and underrated musician in history. Perhaps it is because he never had a pretty face (he possesses the most epic of unibrows) or a pretty temperament; perhaps it is because his songs have a reputation of being terribly depressing. For whatever reason, he and American Music Club have never gotten the wide acclaim they so deserve, despite having made consistently brilliant music for over two decades. Eitzel has not, however, lost any of his credibility within the music community, and remains an under-the-radar influence for many.
So for the small but dedicated population of fans, AMC's new album, The Golden Age, is a warm welcome back after having waited four years since the release of their last album, Love Songs for Patriots.
Musically, this is a mellower affair than the last, as was explained on their official website:
The overall sound is lighter than on previous AMC recordings.Of course, Eitzel is still his morose, fatalistic self, but his lyrics are offset by the warm instrumentation accompanying them. The Golden Age begins gently and acoustically with the achingly beautiful All My Love, and gradually becomes more electric-tinged and rocky, courtesy of the only other ever-present member of the band, Vudi, on guitar. before decrescendoing at the end till the last song ends on a quiet, elegiac note.
Of course there are many reasons why. 1) AMC refutes the label of 'Emo Pioneers'. For the record they hate Emo and have never been on the soundtrack for any W.B. network show. (yet) 2) Dark music is for people who are healthy enough to take it - and AMC want to appeal to all people - including the sick. 3) Mark Eitzel comments: "What will my neighbors in my retirement community think? How will I charm the nurse that tends to me? I want to fill my mouth with sugar and spit it on everyone when I talk. I want to cover the world with chocolate cake icing."
There isn't a single weak song on this album, so to pick out highlights is a difficult task, but special mention must be made to the breezy, glorious "All The Lost Souls Welcome You to San Francisco", which, in a just universe, would be a worldwide hit.
Really, I can't understand why AMC isn't more popular here in the US. The UK caught on ages ago, so why haven't yet opened our eyes to one of our greatest musical exports?
I highly recommend you download songs from The Golden Age, courtesy of Merge Records:
All The Lost Souls Welcome You to San Francisco
All My Love
1 comment:
I just noticed you have a link to me. Thanks! We obviously have similar musical tastes. Isn't that image of Mark and the AMC boys just the best? People just love or hate him, and i's no secret what camp I fall into. Some say his music is just too depressing. I think it's actually uplifting because he goes through the pain with a "live to tell" spirit. And when he does an occasional upbeat tune, it seems all the more happy than those that have the fake happiness in their music.
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