Chad VanGaalen
Skelliconnection
SubPop Records 

Thou shall not listen to a Chad VanGaalen record on random. This is the basic principle to remember when attempting to decode the hidden charm of Skelliconnection. To be honest, the Canadian songwriter’s sophomore album, released on SubPop records, gave me a bit of trouble at first. It’s the kind of record I like to describe as one made of gradual builds, that when played from beginning to end deliver effectively, but when skipped through and played at random seem to go nowhere at all. This necessity, for the listener to devote his full time & attention to the music, can be seen as a negating demand from the artist VanGaalen or it can be interpreted as a sign of the album’s brilliance. It’s up the listener to decide which.

You can make a case that Skelliconnection is much too bloated and unfocused to warrant such attention. The two most upbeat, conventional tracks, ‘Flower Gardens’ and ‘Burn 2 Ash’, are placed at the very front of the record, segregating them from the rest of the pack. They would have been great energy boosts for a sleepy, slow-building album like this one had they been placed in the 3 and 10 slots. Instead VanGaalen shows his hand prematurely, and delivers a very misleading introduction to a drowsy album.

The other criticism in my mind is the lack a payoff for a majority of the album’s tracks. Rather then build to a climax, they float in a straight line towards the 2:30 mark and then dissappear. If you play a song like ‘Rolling Thunder’, which starts with fuzzed out vocals and multiple layers of plucked acoustic guitar, and forward it to the 1 minute mark, you won’t find much difference at all in the tempo or instruments used. It’s build is very subtle and can only be noticed or appreciated when sitting through the entire song. Skelliconnection, as a whole, operates this way, so the question to be answered is, is the record worth sitting through?

I say yes.

Looking past the random instrumental tracks, which push Skelliconnection to an unnecessary 15 songs, Chad VanGaalen’s second record is a winner. Amidst the difficulty, there are some great pieces scattered about. ‘Wind Driving Dogs’ is sure to please any Devendra Banhart fan and ‘Red Hot Drops’ is a brilliant little piece of electronic glee. Again however, the album’s big downfall is it’s reciprocal nature: the more effort you put into it, the more rewards you will extract. If you’re not willing to sit and focus, you may be like me, and find yourself swapping Skelliconnection out of your player for that new Thermals disc.

MP3
Flower Gardens

Websites
http://www.subpop.com