Now You Know

Album Review

Singer/guitarist Doug Martsch of Built to Spill is a major guitar wanker. He also has an attractive whine of a voice and he has on occasion written some excellent tunes throughout his career. On his first solo record, he plays some fine slide guitar, especially on "Window," where he slithers around on the instrument like he was born in Mississippi rather than Idaho, and also "Gone," which has a lovely chorus and is probably one of the finest songs he's penned. When he sticks with the slide guitar, Martsch's combination of down-home blues and meandering indie rock is a winning one. But several tunes don't hit the high emotional points that he's attempting to reach and the rock parts don't always click, occasionally coming off as half-baked noodling. His cover of Mississippi Fred McDowell's "Jesus" is no doubt supposed to sound haunting à la Nirvana's cover of Leadbelly's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?," but it's neither as good a song nor a particularly moving version. He's reached beyond his means on this cover. However, Martsch has impressively nailed down the blues guitar sound, which adds exponentially to his general downbeat groove.