John Vanderslice

The weirdest thing about Vanderslice's "underground" rock is how richly produced and catchy his melancholy songs are. Cellar Door brims with pretty 1970s pop melodies, dark post-punk undercurrents, intriguing narrative lyrics, and baroque arrangements. The more you play this LP, the more secrets it reveals.

Vanderslice's fourth album is full of mellow, shambling indie rock and ill-recorded chamber
pop, with the San Franciscan delivering his bad-love vignettes in a self-possessed whine
that sometimes grates on the ears. Vanderslice could stand to brighten his outlook (if not
his production) a bit, but many of these rambling-man ballads are plenty pretty. CHRISTIAN
HOARD (RS 940, January 22, 2004)