Review Summary: listener...preacher...genre-bender...listener......
I've never liked hip-hop. I've never liked rap music. Maybe I pass unsubstantiated judgments on it, or maybe I haven't listened to enough of it. Perhaps I'm just an overtly-pretentious prick. Whatever the reason, I've just never particularly enjoyed listening to either of these genres. There was once a Kanye West album in my iTunes library, but it was only a matter of time before that song collection was eradicated. That being said, it should be no surprise that when I came across the Sputnik page for the band Listener, which lists their genre as hip-hop, I expected to be rendered unimpressed. In fact, I'm a little shocked that I even gave them a listen (pun intended?), rather than just passing them off as "oh, just another one of those white kids who tried too hard to dabble in witty lyrics and fabricated beats". Boy oh boy, was I ever wrong about Listener.
Dan Smith, the tirelessly honest voice behind Listener, along with musical backing from Chris Nelson (and other rotating cast members throughout the years), don't fit very snugly into the genre of hip-hop. Although certain elements of hip-hop beats and rhythms litter certain songs on their records, the group can not be classified as such. Listener is often classified as "talk music", although even this nomenclature isn't entirely accurate. I suppose if I had to sum up the types of songs found on Return to Struggleville, the band's 2008 full-length release, I'd call them "twangy American tales, naturally cured and smoked then spat onto the audience like chewing tobacco from the righteous, lapsed Catholic mouth of the South". Unfortunately, I don't think Sputnik will accept that as a contribution for a new genre. Dan Smith doesn't talk to his congregation, he preaches. Not in a condescendingly fire and brimstone way, but rather in a "I've heard what you've had to say, now I'm going to talk and hope you'll do so much as listen to my part." I guess it's sort of like if Patrick Stickles sobered up a bit and then read us his poetic musings over the banjo-plucked offerings of Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. However we'd like to classify the music, Return to Struggleville is a dynamic record that will surely not disappoint.
The album starts with a track entitled "Death by Shotgun", an almost heart-wrenching account of a dejected father who feels useless and helpless. Don't write this song off as some cliché emo narrative that you've already heard before though. Unemployed, unwanted, and uninterested in the idea of living any longer, the only thing standing between the man's dream of "eating a barrel full of death by shotgun" is his family and how he wants to leave them something meaningful before he goes. By the end of this track, you'll understand that Dan Smith and his poetry are not the standard run-of-the-mill lyrics. His words are as earnest as they are impassioned, an aspect that makes his music truly stand out amongst that of others. In the sixth song of the record, "What would you do if I'm not what I'm supposed to be, because I'm not", Smith covers the idea of not living up to somebody's expectation of him. He compares himself to "a rusty car without leather", with "no sunroof, no fancy engine". Not only do the lyrics here show incredible reflection and quite a bit of self doubt, but also a heartfelt writing style that pull the audience further into the thoughts of Dan Smith. At this point in the album, it's difficult not to feel a strong connection with his words and feelings, and it only gets better from here.
"Ozark Empire, or a snake oil salesman comes to your town" is probably the most powerful song to be found on the record. Once again, the seasoned and vigorous lyrics are completely magnetizing as Smith articulates his 1984-esque views on some upper force taking total control over the lives of common people. The song is a poetically zealous masterpiece. On top of this, however, is the music and beat backing these words. Listen closely, and you may be able to figure out the main instruments used here: a washing machine and a sledgehammer. During live performances, Smith & Nelson beat on the washing machine along to the beat of the song. Seriously, how cool is that? If any song on this album deserves a 5/5 rating, it's this one. Even the three final tracks of the album maintain that same ambition. The closing number is a metaphor-rich story of a man who fantasizes of killing his seemingly ungrateful wife. Start to finish, Dan Smith aims high and reaches even higher.
If any negatives can be conjured up about Return to Struggleville, one might be the lack of new material. When I bought this record, I was a little disappointed to find that SEVEN of the eleven tracks were either redone or remastered version of tracks that had already been released by Listener, mostly on their debut LP, Ozark Empire. Even so, the improvements to these songs did stand out and make quite a bit of difference. For one, the version of "Ozark Empire, ..." on Listener's first record didn't include the washing machine based beat or all the passion of the Return to Struggleville version. All things being considered, Listener's Return to Struggleville is without a doubt one of the best and most aggressive albums of the past few years. Even though it's release was almost two years ago, I highly recommend that everyone out there goes and gives this a listen. You'll be happy you did.
