How many people under the age of 30 have heard Bowie's masterpiece, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars? Jeff Saphin not only listens to Bowie, but has found a complete connection to the early Bowie glam-rock style.This is not to say that Saphin is an imitator. The complex music that makes up This somehow manages to remain original sounding while Saphin borrows familiar space-rock and religious themes from the heyday of rock and roll. Lush and profane, This has barely begun when Saphin makes the statement "Bang!," the albums first song: "I feel like Jesus Christ today." If you are going to make such a huge announcement to the world, you'd better be prepared to back it up.
Saphin tries very hard to surpass the commonplace world of mainstream rock, and comes very close to delivering. Saphin's music is largely based upon an acoustic guitar surrounded by electronic sound effects, percussion and the occasional electric guitar riff. The production favors Saphin's vocals, clearly placing his voice in front, where you can hear his biting and engaging singing. Layer upon layer of voices, television samples, and 21st century rock and roll create a dense yet listenable collection of tunes.
From the religious imagery of "Bang!" to the alienated spaceman themes of "Astral Man" May Fair Tonight (Interstellar Love Song"), the songs of This are typically mid-tempo and are best heard during a concentrated listening session rather than as driving or background music. Listening through headphones, you will catch bits of news reports of interstellar visitors and other odd effects.
While I found the album's pacing to be strong, it nonetheless would have benefited from a strong rocker or two. There's no "Suffragette City" here, and I longed for the impact of a powerful electric six-string. Saphin captures a clever vocal melody ("Alexxi Molotov (Vowel Mouth)"), picks up the pace a bit ("Hand Me Down Lies"), creates complex neo-psychedelic impact ("Asong: About, Abook"), and pays his respects to the opposite sex ("The Girl From Christopher Street").
At his best, Saphin's combination of modern rock with early 70's glam ("Stone Hips," "Bang!," "The King of Queens") is definitely worthy of your attention. The album is long and might have benefited from editing (14 songs in 66 minutes), but one can tell that Saphin is ambitious and wouldn't make a single sacrifice.
Grade: B+ Student posesses amazing talent but shouldn't hesitate to rock out.
- Doug Cornell |
