20 Watts

The Minus 5's Killingsworth is pretty miserable -- in a good way.

PREVIEW: Killingsworth on ReverbNation

In an always admirable move, The Minus 5 decided to stream their new album, Killingsworth, on ReverbNation. They join the ranks of Radiohead, Wilco, and Girl Talk.You have to wonder why, though. The Minus 5, a sixteen-year-old act from Seattle, are not trying to make a point, like Radiohead, are not in danger of leaks or record company troubles, like Wilco, and are not putting out already copyrighted material, like Girl Talk. Are The Minus 5 just that cool that they’ll release an album and stream it just for the hell of it? Apparently so.

The brainchild of Scott McCaughey, The Minus 5 have been around in one capacity or another since 1993, fronted by McCaughey and featuring R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck. McCaughey has long been known as a close associate of R.E.M.’s, playing second guitar on tour for them and appearing on both live and studio releases. That said, The Minus 5 is very much a McCaughey solo act (plus Buck), with rotating guest musicians from The Decemberists, Wilco, and The Posies. Young Fresh Fellows, the other band he fronts, released their own album on July 7, 2009, the same day as Killingsworth.

The two albums couldn’t be more different, though; I Think This Is a more straightforward pop/rock record, and Killingsworth a folky, alternative country rock effort.

Overall, the tone of Killingsworth is pretty is pretty miserable. It’s safe to say that McCaughey essentially released fourteen country pop-rock sing-alongs, with the catch of heart-wrenching lyrics. With Neil Young-influenced impending doom, “Dark Hand of Contagion,” “Big Beat Up Moon,” and “The Disembowelers” speak to a more widespread degenerating state of affairs in the world of Scott McCaughey. Comparisons of a decaying relationship to disease (“Contagion”) and laments for the lonely and depressed everywhere (“Moon”) run the course of these expertly written lyrics.

These songs play against tracks like “Gash in the Cocoon,” “Ambulance Dancehall,” and “Tonight You’re Buying Me a Drink, Bub” which present a more localized viewpoint. On the latter McCaughey calmly sings about jukeboxes, guns, and references Hamlet and while he’s at it, always coming back to the titular line on the logic that he deserves that drink. Regardless of the strength of the other songs on the album (and they are great), the last one is a fine way to close it off.

People shudder when they read the word country in anything. They expect Willie Nelson to start banging chords out on a rickety old banjo and call it revolutionary. Thankfully The Minus 5 insert more nuances into their work, and Peter Buck is a much better guitarist than Willie ever was, and it shows. Moreover, McCaughey, active as a musician for more than 25 years, proves he can still punch out a decent album–perhaps two on the same day–and even support R.E.M. while he’s at it. The cohorts he’s assembled (all five of The Decemberists as well as The She Bee Gees) are nothing to scoff at either. And the best part? Dude let us listen for free.

–Eric Vilas-Boas