2 out of 5

Label: My Pal God

Producer: Brian McTear

So not every producer to songwriter transition bears wondrous fruit, though I sense if you’re a fan of McTear’s production work – which has included some reedy, pretty wonders like Espers and matt pond PA – you’ll spin ‘Bitter Bitter Weeks’ and shed a tight-pantsed tear.  But let’s not be too flippant about things, ’cause the guy has also worked with some more space-filling records like Swearing at Motorists and meiwthoutYou, and while Bitter might not rock out at any given point, McTear’s ability to flesh out a sound is fully apparent.  It’s just too bad that his singing and tunes don’t carry enough weight to grow into that production style.  And let me go back to being flippant and say that I’m not a big fan of Bri’s work.  It tends to undermine the low-end and strip away resonance, even though he’s a big fan of reverb, seemingly.  He does everything he can on this album to counter that intuition, really wringing the echo from his vocals and guitar, but again, his playing and singing abilities just don’t feel fully unleashed – there’s a continual sense of being held back that makes the tracks never quite tug at the ol’ heart strings like they otherwise might.

However, let me offer one great talent he displays as a singer-songwriter: that of lyricist.  McTear coasts over some pretty bleak material that pretends to be sugary sweet but is tainted with loss and regrets and gloomy imagery.  Every mention of something positive is backed up by something equally uncertain or ponderous, and he achieves this without being too obvious or cloying.  Making actually listening to the songs more rewarding than the listening experience, one could say, piecing through McTear’s prose to find words that have personal resonance.  So thus the divide between the writing and the execution of it becomes a bit more obvious.  To me, he’s just not fully feeling this music yet, just strapping on a guitar and singing off a lyric sheet.  The songs themselves are also a little short-sighted.  While he comes across a few workable chord progressions, the lack of evolvement of any given song doesn’t help it become memorable, and when he brings in a disparate element – a chime, a banjo – it just doesn’t mix well, like it was just brought in to flesh out the guest list or something.

Yip.