American Music Club

The group's first record for a major label takes a few chances by introducing different rhythms and staying even moodier than usual. There is plenty of fine, personal songwriting underneath the increasingly unwieldy song titles. It's not as cohesive as their previous album, Everclear, but it does hold up well.

Eventually someone has to write the song "Mama, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be
Sensitive Singer-Songwriters," and Mark Eitzel may be the man for the job. The
singer-songwriter-guitarist for San Francisco's critically acclaimed American Music Club,
Eitzel has been struggling with his position as a "spokesman for every tired thing" since the
band's inception ten years ago. Clearly attracted to the emotional overload of su... More >

Unable to resist the excessive eloquence of new producer Mitchell Froom and the slam-bang fills of new drummer Tim Mooney, or else in a really crummy mood, Doyen of Depression Mark Eitzel wallows in it. The much admired epitome is "Apology for an Accident," where, among other things, he emotes the excellent lines "I've been praying a lot lately/It's because I no longer have a TV" as if nothing so horrible had ever befallen a drunk with too much time to kill. Unsurprisingly (although it was a bitter pill at first), "What Godzilla Said to God When His Name Wasn't Found in the Book of Life" isn't funny either. Oversinging and all, "Johnny Mathis' Feet" is. It's also the wisest thing on the record, which isn't to say it's wise in any absolute sense. That comes later, we hope--but don't necessarily expect. (Grade - B-)