Search - Archer Prewitt :: Three

The new sincerity

Jake Mohan | Chicago, United States | 07/30/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Welcome to the home where no one ever goes," begins Archer Prewitt's third LP, as tentative mellotron strings score taut lines in the air above his everyman voice. This is a visit to a musical haunted house with more good ghosts than bad, a gloomy abandoned mansion whose creaky floorboards still rock and snap every now and then.



This album has often been appraised--both for the better, and for the worse--as an homage, throwback, nod, etc. to the lush pop sensibilities of 70s rock, a re-realization of a musical era akin to Josh Rouse's 1972. This may be true, but there's something more there, something I think most critics are missing. You can hear it in the chilly autumnal stroll of "Over The Line", where Prewitt croons, "In the darkness your eyes would shine, I had it all."



The anachronistic quaintness of Prewitt's compositions inform not only his retrospective glance, but also the slightly eerie, slightly pleasant feeling of displacement you get from listening to a song that was recorded two years ago but sounds like it's been around for decades. It's maybe the same feeling you get returning to the town where you grew up after many years away, or watching a Wes Anderson movie. (Indeed, the harpsichord of "Tear Me All Away" sounds like it was lifted straight out of Mark Mothersbaugh's Rushmore score.)



The songs on Three, much like Anderson's movies, evoke a time that is definitely in the past, though they are set in the supposed present, and the alternately discomfiting and inviting responses they elicit are entirely deliberate. When we sit down in someone's wood-paneled, shag-carpeted basement rec room, we know something's not quite right, but we're still cozy as hell.



This is a cozy album, rich with compositional ideas and song structures, tempo and mood changes that make for songs within songs, and evocative but familiar-seeming lyrics. It lulls you in with ballads like "Over The Line" and "Atmosphere" and then rocks your face off with the cocky strut of "Second Time Trader". Grown weary of avoiding Beatlesque arrangements, Prewitt embrances them unashamedly on "When I'm With You". Same goes for the Burt Bachrach epidemic that infects "I'm Coming Over".



Indeed, the New Sincerity movement seems to have found a musical acolyte in Prewitt, who served enough time in the paragon of hipster insouciance that is the 90s Chicago indie scene to know what he didn't want his solo albums to sounds like, and he's developed the confidence to throw his slim frame behind the sentimental lyrics, lush strings, brazen horns, and proggy arrangements and weather the inevitable snorts from his post-rock peers. Thank god."

Absolute Positivity

Jonathan J. Casey | the twin cities | 10/21/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Prewitt's new album is a lovely surprise in a year of mostly gloomy albums; he has crafted a pop album unabashedly full of sunshine and love. His last release, the "Gerroa Songs" EP, was insular and dark, and his previous LPs have only hinted at this cheery personality (see the title track to "In The Sun"). "Gerroa Songs" was a beautiful record, but with "Three" Prewitt has proven he can skillfully navigate broad tonal swings. The instrumental opener "Over the Line" is a little flat, but things really kick off with "Tear Me All Away" (when that harpsichord breezes through you know you're in for something good). The rest of the album doesn't disappoint, altering the tone and pace slightly but never straying far from the cheerful heart at the center of this record. Touches of R&B and Boettcher-esque pop surface throughout. Though the neo-hippy attitude introduced on "White Sky" is more apparent here lyrically, that does not translate to painful Phish-like noodling. The back-up singers are a little distracting, though, reminding me of Nick Drake's "Poor Boy."As usual, Archer Prewitt displays excellent overall songcraft, and as his live shows will attest, remarkable performance as well. This is one of my favorite records of 2002. ..."

Archer's done it again

Jeff Key | Chicago | 07/16/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"We caught Archer at Hideout several months back and I was put off by what was positioned to be his new stuff. I'm not sure what happened, though, because this album is fantastic. All of his previous work has a very consistent feel to it; listen to a couple seconds of any song and you know which album it's from. "Three" has slow songs, upbeat songs, meandering songs, you name it. Verdict: If you know who Archer Prewitt is, you'll love this record."