Organ Donor - Midwest/Italia
ARTIST.....: Organ Donor
TITLE......: Midwest/Italia
LABEL......: Bi-Fi Records
URL........: www.bifirecords.com
RIP DATE...: Nov-30-2006
STORE DATE.: Oct-29-2002
GENRE......: Indie
QUALITY....: VBR / 44.1Hz / Joint-Stereo
SIZE.......: 58,9 MB
Track Listing:
01 - Unfinished Business 01:37
02 - Sweetie-Pie 01:12
03 - Love And War 02:52
04 - Caroline 02:55
05 - Christmas Song 01:32
06 - The Longest Drive 05:01
07 - Apology (Baby Don't Go) 04:49
08 - Frozen Lake/Stillborn 04:09
09 - Winter Song 05:05
10 - I Know It's Over 09:56
─────
39:08 min
Release Notes:
Hailing from Ames, Iowa, a place better known for the freaky metal
of Slipknot than timid indie pop, Organ Donor is, in fact, Jeremy
Grace's one-man show. Taking on all the duties associated with a
band (vocals, guitars, percussion) can be a daunting task, but
Grace proves to be up to the challenge with his 2002 release
Midwest/Italia.
Featuring songs that range from acoustic heartache in the vein of
Grant Lee Buffalo and the Mermaid Ave series ("Unfinished
Business,"), to Beatlesque sweetness ("Sweetie Pie"), cooing piano
balladry and danceable juke jangle ("Caroline," "Love and War,"
"Christmas Song"), with bits of noisy, lo-fi experimentation
scattered throughout, Midwest/Italia is a diverse and likeable
album of Midwestern melancholy. Grace's vocals are affable, but
not extraordinary, the sound of a singer with a lot of admirable
influences, but who hasn't quite settled into his own skin yet.
Expressing the yearning of Thom Yorke (minus the histrionics) or
Elliott Smith at times, along with the sheer disenchantment of Lou
Barlow or J Mascis at others, Organ Donor lingers in a realm of
austere indie rock, more Silver Jews than Pavement, but not as
self-consciously literate as either of those groups.
The feel of Midwest/Italia is, in a word, lonesome. The album
plays like a series of long-distance love letters that Grace never
quite musters up the courage to post, no matter how many times he
walks them to the mailbox. Near the end of the album, Grace's
courage seems to peak as "Winter Song" finds him deciding to "Sell
my records back to the store/I won't need them anymore/Pack my
bags and I'll be on a jet-plane for Italy/I'll be on my way to
you."
However, the hopefulness of "Winter Song" is a distant memory by
the time the album closes with a cover of the Smiths'
extraordinarily morose (even by Smiths' standards) "I Know It's
Over." A bit over the top, even grandiose, in his performance of
this Smiths gem, to his credit Grace doesn't try to ape
Morrissey's unique vocals. However, it seems Grace hasn't quite
tapped into Morrissey's utter desperation either, and as a result
the song comes across more sterile and artistic than emotional,
which is surprising, as Grace's originals are wrought with emotion
and vigor. You can't win them all, as they say. (allmusic.com)