Solitaire
What is a solo project? Is it different from "going solo?" For me, "going solo" implies leaving the band indefinitely to perform on your own, using your own name, even though you are actually playing with other people (see Sting, Peter Gabriel, Michael McDonald, Phil Collins.) Then there is the solo album, which implies more of a break from the band to pursue your own interests (nearly every member of the Eagles, Thurston Moore, Chris Walla, etc.). Or, the solo album could be what you do after the band (every member of the Beatles, Tom Verlaine, Richard Lloyd, countless others).
Do you have a favorite solo album or solo performer? Are there people you prefer solo than with their band?
My favorite solo album is All Things Must Pass.
I've been thinking about this topic because on Friday I saw two solo performances at a benefit show. One set was by Stephen Malkmus (The Jicks, Pavement), the other by James Mercer (The Shins). Malkmus went on stage in a parka and tuned for so long that the audience clapped throughout, unsure as to whether or not he was playing a song. His Silvertone guitar stayed stubbornly out of tune, which only added to the set's imbalance. I like a performer, a song, a set that teeters on destruction. Malkmus' guitar playing, when stripped of accompaniment, vacillates between insouciance and deliberation. The playing appears indecisive, which contrived or not, is why it's exciting.
James Mercer deals in contentment. Even if or when the lyrical intent is obfuscated, the melodies are complex and daring, his voice soaring, his audience seems happy. They are moved, yes, but not so far as to be taken out of their comfort zone. "Ah, this is the life," they all must be thinking. Mercer is one of my favorite contemporary singer/songwriters. Therefore, I am not immune to that strange magic of Mercer and the Shins. And at a solo show, it becomes quite clear that Mercer could play the songs on his own without too many people missing the eccentricities of the rest of the band. The shape of the songs remain intact, their craft distilled, the melodies more striking and strikingly beautiful. But it was in the relationship between the audience and solo Mercer that I started missing the band. Maybe it was the strange complacency that set in -- the sense that this was all we needed -- to be under a tent drinking wine and listening to pretty songs. In that moment I wanted Marty (of the Shins) to ruin the placidity, for him to say something goofy from stage, for him, for the band, to come crashing through. Not that I don't like quiet, or soft, I like both. And I especially love Mercer, solo or otherwise. But it is also good to remember the reason why the rest of a band exists or why there is a band in the first place: to create tension, movement, dynamics, chemistry, and to remind us that music isn't about feeling content, it's about feeling alive.
1:39 PM ET | 04-14-2008 | permalink
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