Goodnight Unknown
Ex-Dinosaur, Jr. bassist and ex-Sebadoh leader Lou Barlow has always had an affinity for the crunchy sound of lo-fi. Even here, with Godsmack producer Andrew Murdock on board, Barlow keeps things primitive and simple. His voice blends into the acoustic guitars of “Too Much Freedom,” finds the emotive center in the simple acoustic plea of “Faith In Your Heartbeat,” and gears up for the living-room rock attack of the title tune. Drummer Dale Crover of the Melvins and multi-instrumentalist Lisa Germano add their touches, but it’s all in service to Barlow’s warm, modest vocals that survive under all conditions. “The One I Call” has a backslapping, feel-good rhythm coming and going as Barlow stacks up the harmonies. “The Right” balances a roller-rink pop bounce with the serious tone of Barlow’s heartfelt vocals. “One Machine, One Long Fight” has enough surface noise to compete with Barlow’s manic lyric downpour. “Modesty” sounds like chamber pop recorded in the basement. No matter the style, it comes out Barlow.
On his second solo album under his own name, the indie rock veteran does a little of everything he does well and improves on his last outing, Emoh.
In the years since Lou Barlow’s 2005 solo album EMOH, the indie-rock godfather has toured with his old bands Sebadoh and Dinosaur Jr., recorded two superb LPs with the latter, and has seen his early Sebadoh albums re-released in deluxe editions. So it’s understandable that Barlow’s new solo release, Goodnight Unknown,…
It's been close to a quarter-century since Lou Barlow became the uncrowned king of the lo-fi revolution thanks to his early recordings with Sebadoh, but while in 2009 he has a number of gifted musicians on hand to help him, and a professional recording studio at his disposal, Goodnight Unknown shows his songwriting style and musical direction has remained remarkably consistent with the passage of time.