Scott Kelly – The Wake

Monday, April 14, 2008

Having gone from raw crossover purveyors to apocalyptic doom specialists, Neurosis have always kept critics and fans guessing throughout their three decade career. When it was announced that co-founding guitarist, Scott Kelly would be releasing a solo album, I didn’t know what to really expect. From the opening, folk-tinged chording of “The Ladder in my Blood,” it is clear that the record would be a much different animal from his primary output. The track listing on The Wake has more in common with rustic Americana from the likes of Mark Lanegan and even Will Oldham than it does with anything on the later Neurosis material. Kelly’s monotone vocals possess a gravely and low tone to them in the vein of the aforementioned vocalists and maybe a less-animated Nick Cave.

For most of the album, there is some bass and lap-steel guitars sprinkled throughout, all you get is Kelly’s vocals accompanied by acoustic guitars. This works nicely with the general bleakness of the lyrics laid out. On the depressive “In My World,” the singer laments, “the weather never changes in my world,” and the stark arrangement frames the song in a very fitting way. As interesting as the melding of the American Gothic styled imagery and bare-minimum structures are, it would have been great to hear some piano and maybe a blues harp on a couple of the tracks to lend the recordings some color. But then again, I don’t think that’s what Kelly wanted anyway.