Eric Gaffney
Uncharted Waters
Handmade Records (EUR) / Old Gold (USA + Can)

The former member of Sebadoh, Eric Gaffney has recorded this album over the last 10 years.

Let's start with the cover, it feels like a passport picture from the 70's. It makes me in a good mood. Then the record: It's become a collection of 27 songs, which clocks in on 79 minutes. Why not make two albums of it? Is it the old CD trap feeling that haunts here? We have 80 minutes lets use it!

For a start, Eric hasn't got a very strong voice. On the first track, he starts off singing kind of falsetto. It feels kind of weird and false, but after a few runs it hits you that it works. This is the only time he tries to use his voice. The production feels very homemade and it's a very indie-feel in its expression, very close to earlier collaborators, like Sonic Youth. There are eleven instrumental tracks, which feels more like jamming than a special transmission to next proper song. I'm not against instrumental rock records. Kinski and Björn Olson made complete instrumental records a few years ago, with an attitude and inventiveness to envy. When it comes down to the works, the record makes me think of a compilation, more than an album. With a filter on, this could be a nice record of seven good songs and a few instrumentals in between. Instead there are place for cover songs and punk songs (Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street" and Ramones' "Locket Love"), which makes the total picture a bit fuzzy.

Good songs are: tracks 1,2,3,14,19,23, 27.

Copyright © 2006 Geir Fladseth