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American Music Club - The Golden Age
| Avclub | | There's an argument to be made that morbid songwriting passed Mark Eitzel by years ago. In the wake of followers like Mark Kozelek and Elliott Smith, who sprang up during American Music Club's early-'90s heyday, it's no longer revolutionary to craft moody yet tense tunes that simultaneously subvert rock muscularity and folk wussiness. Since 2004's comeback album, Love Songs For Patriots, AMC leader Eitzel has had to rely on his songs and persona alone—which makes The Golden Age even more stunning. His trademark gloom still dominates, but his ability to bend glacial chords around pure poetry remains vital. In fact, it's stronger than ever: For every thunderstorm like "The Decibels And The Little Pills," The Golden Age sports a wry, soulful, immaculately cut pop gem such as "All The Lost Souls Welcome You To San Francisco....full text |
| | Drownedinsound | | A new release by American Music Club, or a solo outing from their writer and inspiration Mark Eitzel, is always an event, not least as there's often a hint that it may be their last. Since their San Francisco inception in 1982, there have been band member fall outs, disenchantment with managements, line-up shuffles, weak press campaigns, record company headaches and, to top them all, Eitzel's contrary wilfulness. But all that aside, the greatest expectation is the thrill of fresh explorations into Eitzel's mercurial, uncanny understanding of the frailties, joys and desperations of what it means to be alive and breathing....full text |
| | Dustedmagazine | | There's a moment in "One Step Ahead," about two minutes into what seems a fairly unthreatening, literate pop song, when things take a dramatic turn. The close harmonies slip a half-step closer and turn to discord, the drums rear up in cymbal-clashing rebellion and the guitar, played by longtime AMC'er Vudi (Mark Pankler), splinters into monstrous waves of feedback. That, in a nutshell, is what's interesting about this ninth installment (and second since a long break) by Mark Eitzel's American Music Club. The songs may seem soft and pretty on the surface, but there is always a fair amount of rage lurking beneath. That depth of feeling manifests itself in any number of ways – in cutting, surgically-incisive lyrics, in casual profanity or in bursts of distorted rock cacophony – and, for the most part, it simmers, its incipient threat keeping these tunes from receding into the background....full text |
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American Music Club lyrics |
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