Reviews

Glen Phillips' space-inspired EP is worth listening to over and over

Date published: 11/20/2009

BY SARAH KEITH

Glen Phillips' 2008 album "Secrets of the New Explorers" may be one of the best musical compositions I have ever experienced.

The off-and-on frontman of Toad the Wet Sprocket, Phillips assembled this six-track record with each track having specifically to do with space in one aspect or another. This continuity is not only rare and enjoyable, but allows the listener to ride with him and explore the universe.

The first thing that hit me when I popped in the CD is Phillips' often very similar sound--almost identical--to David Bowie's style on "Space Oddity."

All of his songs have a strange whimsicalness about them, creating a light, optimistic atmosphere. Phillips even separates his words, allowing a spaced-out, distant type sound, cool and confident.

The best song of the compilation has to be "Solar Flare." It has a perverse cheeriness, accompanied by guitar that resembled that of The Moldy Peaches' Kimya Dawson.

The song begins like a child's lullaby: "Goodnight moon/ Goodnight air/ Goodnight captain in the captain's chair/ Goodbye teeth/ And goodbye hair/ You were taken by the solar flare." These lyrics are carried out in a happy, upbeat, Raffi-like manner make for an interesting and fulfilling listening experience.

Also included in the CD is science's response to The B-52s' new-wave classic "Love Shack." "Space Elevator" takes us through all the layers of the atmosphere to a rocking out sound. The most upbeat number of the album, this is the one to get stuck in your head, should you have to choice. On it, Phillips sounds very much like Matthew Sweet mixed with Bill Nye, the Science Guy.

On the cover of the album, the rocket ship named "Spirit of Shackleton" by Phillips, corresponds to the song of the same name. Ernest Shackleton, an explorer in the early 1900s, once had to leave all of the members of his crew behind on a ship trapped in Antarctic ice while he and another man went to go get help. Miraculously, when he returned, every member of the expedition was still alive, inspiring the lyrics "I'm cold but I'm not scared/ In the spirit of Shackleton." The song goes on to describe moments of hopelessness, weightlessness and a general explorative drive.

Though the entire album is only about 20 minutes long, it is a 20 minutes well spent, to be spent again and again.

Sarah Keith is a junior at Riverbend High School.

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Date published: 11/20/2009