Dan Reeder - This New Century '2016

Tracks list

Tracklist

01. Bitch Nation
02. James Brown Is Dead and Gone
03. Brain the Doon, Pt. 1
04. Brain the Doon, Pt. 2
05. Beachball
06. Angels May
07. Long Ago
08. The Walk to the God House
09. Ive Been Hiding
10. Everybody Wants a Cookie
11. Fireball
12. Angels, Brain Cells
13. Breathe in on the G
14. She Wont Even Blow
15. The Weather Is a Dead Man
16. Troubled Soul
17. Maybe
18. It Feels so Good
19. This New Century
20. Two Songs That I Know


Its not a surprise that Americana icon John Prine signed Dan Reeder to his Oh
Boy label. Both are crusty-voiced singers who pen dark-humored tales about the
odd ways of man. Listen to Maybe here and its easy to hear the shared
sensibility. This wonderfully quirky rumination of death features Reeder talking
about various people hes known who have died (like Dieter who you could call
[him] on the phone and he would tell you that hes not home two weeks after his
death) while also philosophizing about mortality (maybe youll come back some day
as a king prawn/maybe angels come and take you away to heaven or the other
way/but for down here it appears that when theyre gone/theyre gone). These lines
exemplify what Reeder does best: teeter between darkly comic observations and
more cosmic ones. Reeders songs, however, come off more like vignettes, or
anecdotes, rather than Prine-like short stories. Maybe, for example, is the
longest cut here, clocking in at 3:43. By keeping his bluesy folk songs brief,
Reeder can make his observations and then move on to the next one. Some of his
more effective tunes are also the ones that seem the simplest, but these
actually hold a subtle depth. With just a few lines in Everybody Wants a Cookie,
he shows how differently people behave even when they agree on something.
Beachball seems like a little ditty about a lost beachball, but theres also a
sense of real-life danger with the recurring line: the guard at the gate has a
gun and a phone and a radio. Long Ago wonderfully captures how a man waiting for
a bus can let his mind can wander to more cosmic things (like Earths origins).
James Brown Is Dead and Gone basically repeats three lines over and over, but it
conveys his sincere sense of loss about Browns death. Death and angels appear
throughout this disc, although, with Reeders droll sense of humor, angels may on
a good day…feed you ravioli right out of the can. His humor turns more
ribald on the hilarious She Wont Even Blow, a fingersnapping number built around
the punch line: she wont even blow me on my birthday. Like Prine, Reeders
understated delivery helps to set up his knockout lyrics. Sometimes Reeders
imagery can get too esoteric, making songs like Fireball and Ive Been Hiding a
bit hard to decipher without footnotes, despite some vivid imagery. Hes more
effective on irascible rants like the title track and Two Songs That I Know,
which concludes the disc with him sweetly picking Heart and Soul. Another part
of this discs charms is its homemade quality. Not only did Reeder play and sing
all the parts as well as produce and record this disc, but he also built some of
the instruments. The raspy-voiced Reeder may be a bit of an acquired taste, but
hes a uniquely talented songwriter who is well worth discovering, particularly
for fans of John Prine and Randy Newman. ~ Michael Berick

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