| The music
collective/cabal known as The Minus 5, headed up by Seattle pop/punk
godfather Scott McCaughey (Young Fresh Fellows, Tuatura, R.E.M.)
is back with a new studio album full of more hooks than a fishing
trawler and more musical ideas than you can wrap your head around
in a single sitting. Eponymously titled, The Minus 5 themselves
have been referring to this as ‘the gun album’; the
album cover is simply adorned with the image of a handgun.
This record
could not have happened without the superhuman efforts of Scott
McCaughey. Even though Mr. McCaughey had the assistance of the
usual horde of ragtag bandoleros (see below), it was Scott who
hung the notes on the staff, gathered the orchestra (paying triple
union scale, out of pocket), set up a microphone, manufactured
the recording tape, invented electricity, and provided each participant
with a sponge and a marmot. Therefore, regarding this project,
it is at Scott McCaughey only that any projectiles or pearls must
be hurled.
In the past,
scribes have noted that McCaughey (pronounced McCoy) is a crafter
of “gorgeously written, infectious, perfectly interpreted
takes on the roots of the best ‘60’s pop” (L.A.
Times), a songsmith capable of crafting “melodies and lyrics
that most songwriters wait a lifetime for” (Interview magazine).
McCaughey himself is slightly more circumspect :
“This
is the new Minus 5 album. Against all odd, it is perhaps the seventh
full-lengther in a career marked primarily by catastrophe, shame
and fisticuffs. (Leave triumphs to those that beseech them.) Let
the silvery golden music, a vast expanse of X’s and O‘s,
or just 0’s and 1’s, reign over you. And if after,
you grab yourself a pistol, and put a hole into a bible, just
remember: that bible might be in somebody’s coat pocket.”
The Minus
5 (aka The Gun Album) features Scott McCaughey / Peter Buck /
Bill Rieflin / John Ramberg / Jeff Tweedy / John Stirratt / Glenn
Kotche / Mike Jorgensen / Tucker Jackson / John Moen / Jim Talstra
/ Eric Lovre / Colin Meloy / John Wesley-Harding / Kelly Hogan
/ Morgan Fisher / Sean Nelson / Ken Stringfellow
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