Let’s call a spade a spade— I’ve been procrastinating, plain and simple. I’ve been hemming and hawing, effectively sitting on this assignment and this CD for several months. My editor has been waiting for me to come through with this for what must seem like even longer.

And the reason for the delay? Simply? I’ve been looking for ways to get out of doing this, to get out of writing this. I haven’t been looking forward to trumpeting the Vorstand Circus’ Sworn in on a Stack of Dictionaries, which was one of the Top 20 nominees for the 2005 Australian Music Prize.

This despite enjoying the album for the past several months.

Let me take a step back, and tell you the real reason for my apprehension.

See, over the past several years, I’ve become suspicious of those writers and those critics whose need to launch as many unknown bands as possible often superseded those acts’ actual abilities or shelf life potential. Now, not every critic has this as their aim— of course— but just look at the number of over-hyped bands in this new era. The number of breathless rises and falls over the past 2-3 years (hell, the past 2-3 months) has been enough to make the editor of the NME turn crimson. And more often than not… it’s due to critical catchphrases and buzzwords, to lazy writing, to the reckless power of the pen.

Which is where the problem comes in. This CD… it really is making me think of them, plain and simple. Those Pavlovian trigger bands, and you know the ones I’m talking about. The ones I’ve been trying to avoid mentioning. The sacred ones, the groups that— if you’re reading this review in the first place— you love in the way you love your dog.

So, given all this, I’ve been patient (the word you’re searching for is “lazy” – ed.). I looked for compromise, for alternate routes. And of course, I kept listening to the Vorstand Circus, over and over again. And I suppose I should mention that Sworn in on a Stack of Dictionaries is strong— really strong— from beginning to end. It rocks at times, it sounds like a sea shanty at others, and frequently— very frequently— its twin spiraling narratives will remind you of someone you know, or something you did… for better or worse.

I’ve spent a lot of time wondering how best to convey the sound— is it the sound of several of your favorite moody guitar bands blended; the sound of one lonely guy in the wrong country with a PC and a lot of time to kill; the sound of confession and optimism crashing together; the sound of grey turning into sunrise (cripes, better that you should use buzzwords – ed.)? No— none of these descriptions fit. And they certainly fail to do the music justice.

So here we go. I give up. Pardon my hypocrisy.

Allow me, though, to blame/thank Aussie Jason Allen (the sole member of the Vorstand Circus) for owning up to his inspirations directly. Go to his website, and he’ll tell you himself, the album was directly inspired by (take a deep breath, kids) Neutral Milk Hotel and the Arcade Fire, as well as Fables-era R.E.M.

Now, does album standout “All Truth Now” sound anything like “Wake Up”?

No, of course not.

And does “Bad Dog” sound anything like “Naomi”? Or “Your Good Soul” like “Green Grow the Rushes”? Again, not really.

So if the sound is different, where does the comparison come from? The overarching mood of the album. Legit parallels to the work of those groups can be found in the tone of Dictionaries. Precious little of the album sounds all that similar to Jeff Mangum or Win Butler. If anything, from the opening drive of “All Truth Now” onward, the Vorstand Circus is very much its own unique entity, with its own (unsurprisingly) baroque sound.

If the overarching moods of loss and isolation found throughout Funeral and In the Aeroplane Over the Sea were integral to your own enjoyment of those albums…perhaps you’ll find some merit in the comparison, and something to make you give Dictionaries a try. While it lacks the transcendent gloom of the former and the hyper-surrealist imagery of the latter, in the main, Jason Allen has— on his own, mind you— constructed something more than worthy of your attention.

MP3 Samples:
All Truth Now
Black Hole

-- David Berger

This entry was posted on Monday, June 5th, 2006 at 10:01 am and is filed under Record Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Edit this entry.