Built to Spill - There Is No Enemy Review

In the 1990s, they produced some of the most ambitious and resonant indie rock ever made, but in the 2000s, Built to Spill seemed content with merely existing. Following the high-water marks of Perfect From Now On and Keep It Like a Secret, they went into a sort of low-grade creative hibernation, issuing records every three or four years containing a few flashes of genuine inspiration ("Strange", "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss", "Goin' Against Your Mind") surrounded by increasingly aimless jamming. Doug Martsch, the lead singer, guitarist, and creative force behind the band, was beginning to sound like a guy with nothing particularly important left to tell us-- we could stick around, if we wanted, to hear him play his guitar, but the lack of purpose was disconcerting. "Something is wrong/ Something invisible is gone," Martsch crooned on Ancient Melodies of the Future's "The Host", and with each successive release, it was hard not to revisit their earlier work in attempts to puzzle out anew what that "something" was.

On the unexpectedly terrific There Is No Enemy, it becomes immediately clear what had been missing, and sure enough, it was invisible: While Enemy technically sounds just like every Built to Spill record since Keep It Like a Secret-- the pinwheeling guitar fantasias, the ambling tempos, and the wayward vocal lines are all here-- it is buoyed by a fresh sense of emotional stakes, an urgency that puts wind back in the band's sails. For the first time in almost 10 years, it seems that Martsch might actually have something he wants to say....full text Built to Spill
There Is No Enemy
(Warner Bros.)
Releasing: 6 October (US)

SONG LIST
01 Aisle 13
02 Hindsight
03 Nowhere Lullaby
04 Good Ol’ Boredom
05 Life’s a Dream
06 Oh Yeah
07 Pat
08 Done
09 Planting Seeds
10 Things Fall Apart
11 Tomorrow...full text Built to Spill have earned the respect of the indie community and beyond since starting in the 90's. From the beginning they had sound that was fun and chock full of great melodic interplay. The now famous switch to a more mature and layered sound with their magnum opus Perfect From Now On, endeared them further to the indie crowd. They also held one thing over most of their contemporary’s of then and now– they’re actually good musicians. Doug Martsch can shred with the best of them and both Scott Plouf at the drums and Brett Nelson on bass are no slouches either. So, at the announcement of a new album I was intrigued as to just what it was going to be like. Sprawling schizophrenic song structures like Perfect From Now On? Glorious, sunny, but still complex guitar rock like Keep It Like a Secret? Or perhaps the jam band sound that was both a blessing and a curse on their last effort, You In Reverse? The answer: all and none of the above. Just like Yo La Tengo’s earlier 2009 release Popular Songs, There Is No Enemy is a clear exhibition of what has made Built to Spill an indie staple and how they are still able to make relevant records this far into their career.

At its core, There Is No Enemy is pure Built to Spill. Shifting song structures, layered guitar riffs, shredding solos and a solid rhythm sections are the dominant qualities of the record, but it’s the small touches that make the record shine a little brighter. The horns that blare out in the middle of “Life’s A Dream” or the trumpet solo in the middle of “Things Fall Apart” are totally unexpected and add such a rich texture to the songs. Another deviation from past Built to Spill is the lack of noise and fuzz in the guitar work. While past guitar solos often had to be picked apart through a wall of noise, this album breathes with a cleaner, more energetic sound. The up-tempo indie rocker “Pat” is a prime example of this and features some of the best guitar work on the album. It also happens to be a shining example of the economical approach to length employed by the band on this album....full text