ARTIST: All Smiles
TITLE: Ten Readings of a Warning
LABEL: Dangerbird Records
GENRE: Indie
BITRATE: 172kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 38m total
RELEASE DATE: 2007-04-24
RIP DATE: 2007-04-17
Track List
----------
1. Early Man 0:37
2. Summerstay 3:38
3. Killing Sheep 3:33
4. Pile Of Burning Of Burning 3:55
Leaves
5. The Velvetest Balloon 2:24
6. Moth In A Cloud Of Smoke 3:46
7. I Know It's Wrong 3:57
8. Leave Love 3:54
9. Backwards, Forward, Through 3:59
10. Sprinting Hyphens 3:32
11. Of Course It's Not Up To Me 4:54
Release Notes:
I know Mr Fairchild doesnÆt want me or you to start here, but he played guitar
in Grandaddy. Often he played acoustic guitar. You might guess the role of the
acoustic guitar in a five-piece rock band is no more essential to the structure
than a coat of paint. But it you ever wedged yourself near the front of a
Grandaddy show and listened as the structure rose, story by story, you realized
Mr. FairchildÆs role was not the paint but the glue. When he picked up his
electric guitar, the impression was cemented. If you spoke with him after the
showùwhich was easy to doùyou realized that the playing was an extension of the
player, and the self-effacing choice of the delicate instrument was no accident.
He transcended the role and bound the whole together on and off stage. So for
those that knew him it was reasonable guess that he should be gifted with the
turn of a phrase, that his sense of melody should be both easy and unique, that
he could and would do more with less. It should have come as no surprise.
However, nobody could have predicted the exploding toy chest of subtly shaded
objects of bliss that followed. Sure, the album opens with acoustic guitar. The
first four cues are lead by strumming before diverging into various slices of
pop perfection: ôSummer Stayö seeking sunlight, ôPile of Burning Leavesö lying
down in the shade. On track 5 ôThe Velvetest Balloon,ö Mr. Fairchild sits down
at the piano. The candle consumes the bushel. The tiny space of the closet is
still audible but the palette widens gloriously. This perfect big/little
juxtaposition plays through the rest of the CD. The production rises to warm
then recedes to reveal and frame. ItÆs all woven together with a cherubÆs voice
that stretches out most heartbreakingly on the final track. Where did that voice
come from? IÆd never seen a microphone in front of him before. Okay, maybe once
in Earlimart. For a decade he had stood on stage without a microphone stand. It
was like seeing an old favorite high school teacher out with an attractive date.
No, it was better than that. He named his project ôAll Smilesö and this first
release is ôTen Readings of a Warning.ö The two titles mark the zenith and nadir
of Mr. FairchildÆs recent orbit. In Grandaddy it seemed as though Mr.
FairchildÆs fortunes could go either way. In the turbulent blast of expression
and consumption that is a touring band he and they often seemed to be going both
ways at once. Getting run over by your own tour bus is at the high end of
anyoneÆs measure of destructive habits (oh please think of some other things to
ask him about too) and yet his craft continued to grow. His collaboration with
Earlimart yielded some of the most sublime pop of the year. Mr. Fairchild
relates that the titles are about ôrecognizing that there are a bunch of events
and traditions that you become reliant on and are making you sick, and what is
the way past that.ö Some overdubs were recorded in Los Angeles. A few bits were
recorded in Chicago after moving so his girlfriend could attend art school. Most
of the songs came tumbling out of a 4X4 closet in Portland, Oregon. He used a
lot of drummers: Joe Plummer (Modest Mouse, Black Heart Procession) Solon Bixler
(Great Northern), Janet Weiss (Slater-Kinney, Quasi), and Danny Seim (Menomena).
Mr Fairchld strummed, tickled, twiddled, blew or sang everything else. He
recorded it all on 1/2 inch eight track. Brian Deck mixed it. Mr DeckÆs credits
include Modest Mouse, Fruit Bats and Iron and Wine. Fuck IÆm still blown away by
the voice. Mr Fairchild credits Peter Walker (labelmate and co-founder of
Dangerbird) for making him learn to sing. IÆm grateful to Mr. Walker. I should
send him something. - Charlie Campbell