my first song of the week post!
i’ll admit, for a long time, i’ve only given built to spill a few passing glances. whenever i saw their name show up in my music feed, i always assumed they were a three-chord punk/garage rock band, for no particular reason other than how their name struck me. stupid, i know. so it came as a surprise that whenever i decided to listen to a few of their songs i found out they were just the opposite: sprawling, improvisational, prog-rock-esque, and slightly psychedelic. doug martsch has to be one of the most unlikely guitar gods i’ve ever heard, bar none.
i haven’t listened to a lot of built to spill yet, but a couple of their albums are somewhere on my listening list… which i’ll get to, eventually. but the few songs i’ve heard so far: “Goin’ Against Your Mind“, “Carry the Zero“, “Time Trap“, “I Would Hurt A Fly“, and “Randy Described Eternity“, and “The Plan”, i’ve really enjoyed. they’re elegant, in a quirky DIY kind of way.
“The Plan”, from their 1999 album Keep It Like A Secret captures the essence of built to spill in a very terse three-and-a-half minutes. “The Plan” manages to combine catchy, dreamy hooks and solos with an odd tonal shift and an extended noise section that still reforms at the very end. martsch’s singing is light and delicate, and the bass gets some time to really shine in this song. it’s both easy to ‘get’ and needs further listening to understand. my only complaint is that the song could be longer. give it a listen if you haven’t already! 🙂
q-street 