Great music stands on its own and it doesn't need explanations and storyboards. You don't have to know about its creator to appreciate it, but any music worth discussing will be marked with the artifacts of its creator because great music is personal. Personal doesn't have to mean awkward, naked confessionals. It can come in the form of a connection that is felt. I'm sure it's been done because we can be fooled, but faking that kind of connection can't be easy. Secrets of the New Explorers, Phillips' new EP, is imbued with a light because of the intentions behind its genesis. That Phillips told me directly about those intentions helps me to appreciate them in a little more detail, but I could have heard them even if I hadn't talked to him.
"We had a blast."
Secrets is a collection of songs born of fun. It was created out of a desire to try something different. It was created to please its creator, and that joy is translated through the music.
"It's the reason the word is 'play' when you're talking about working with instruments," said Phillips. "It should be play."
How can a talented artist make a bad record when they approach it like that? It may be possible to screw an album up even under those circumstances, but you won't find that on Secrets of the New Explorers. Musically, he is stretching himself and embracing sounds and approaches not prevalent in his previous work. Noel Gallagher once said that musicians are a product of their record collection. Secrets reveals another side of Phillips' record collection.
There are still acoustic guitars, earnest lyrics, and great vocals delivered by a pure voice. On Secrets, these elements are blended with ambient sonic textures and electronic elements not heard on Phillips' previous solo records or those he made with Toad The Wet Sprocket. In that way, the experimentation is a success because these new sounds don't replace what he does well, they supplement it. "They'll Find Me" and "Solar Flare" would sound great live as a solo acoustic pieces and would be no less engaging if they were recorded in the stripped-down approach of previous albums like Abulum and Mr. Lemons, but the otherworldly sounds deepen the emotion and add color to the lyrics. Vocals are tampered with, some double-tracked and others cloaked with effects.
Article comments
1 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Great Review...
The problem here(U.S.)is that too many people think that the celebrities that run the Top 40 machine including Hip-Hop are "Musicians". For me, those "Musicians" have never produced anything that has been worthy.
It's unfortunate that Toad doesn't record together anymore but I think for Mr. Phillips it is proving positive that you don't have to be in the limelight to be a great musician. Personally, I think that's what killed Toad in the first place,i.e.,Contractual Agreements,etc..
So far, I've been diggin the songs I have heard on his Myspace page(probably because Mr. Phillip's voice has always been awesome) but I do find it funny that when people write tunes about space they tend to show their Pink Floyd & David Bowie influences...Which is not a bad thing at all. Great Stuff, I would love to see him produce some heavier material. Maybe some "Prog".
2 - Josh Hathaway
Thanks, Brian. I am in complete agreement with you about Glen's voice. I was thinking about that when listening to "The Spirit of Shackleton" on this EP and a few of the older songs I've listened to lately. He was very good in the Toad days, but he seems to me to have grown a great deal as a singer. I think some of that might be attributed to the fact he now tours almost exclusively solo acoustic. When all you have is a single guitar and your voice to communicate with, you have to really bring it. That has, in turn, shown up on the records. He's very, very good.
You're right, too, that "space" records and "space" rock do seem to go hand in hand. I didn't put that together, but it's a fun point. I doubt he'll make this kind of record often, but I hope this isn't the last time he dabbles around with it. It's a good EP and is highly recommended.
3 - Tom Johnson
I still have yet to hear this, but I got it for my wife a couple months back. I'm going to need to grab this from her and give it a listen. He's been on a roll lately so I can't imagine it'll be anything but another great piece.
Another great "space" album is Aimee Mann's Lost In Space. Not really about space but uses the metaphors of space and astronauts occasionally to illustrate the disillusionment and pain people go through. In other words, typically Mann subject matter. :-)