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The Apprentice An American Portrait music review |
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The Apprentice
An American Portrait
Future Destination
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Truth be told, there’s a lot to be said. The Apprentice’s An American
Portrait (Future Destination, 2005) is a gallery of creative ideas,
each
framed in a song. Every song is sung from a different family member’s
point
of view, thus creating a perception of what the band sees as, a
portrait of
a typical American family.
Track listing:
01 We Were Just Eighteen
02 I Am Fine
03 Fatherless Nation
04 You Still Say...
05 Smiling Faces
06 In The Air
07 A Husband's Lament
08 Your Note
09 Cocaine And Whiskey
10 I'm Coming Home
11 The Great Invitation
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Starting the story is ‘We Were Just Eighteen’, sung by the father. With
heart-wrenching vocals, front man Eric DeLong has the gift of making
his
voice startling and sweet at times, and then to a truth-be-told
cumbersome
country tale spinner.
This isn’t the average picture-perfect family that is so overly
depicted on
television, in magazines, on billboards. The album construes real-life
problems, and airs them, vividly, without skipping a beat. There’s the
troubled but headstrong husband, with this drinking problem, the
daughter
who grasps on for a father’s love only to find it elsewhere, the angry
son,
disappointed in what he sees, and the wife who is desperate in feeling,
but
determined to survive. Songs from a narrative point of view are
included as
well, covering all the bases of this state of mind, the country that
this
family lives in.
The Ashland, Kentucky band includes DeLong (multi-instrumentalist),
Josh
Iddings (bass) and Matt Goldman (drums).
On a more personal note, ‘You Still Say…’ is almost entirely verbatim
of the
childhood I had with my father and the feelings that now reside.
Unbelievably touching -- I read it before listening to it and I saw my
life
as a song. My feelings, displayed in the liner notes, and to my
surprise,
they were exactly what I needed to say to him – and did.
These songs, this album, this band – are exactly what we all need to
pay
more attention to. The truthsayers of domestic living, their songs can
counsel or taunt you. Either way, they are striking in ways that no
other
songs have been in years.
If the family’s stories don’t get to you, the narrator’s heavyset
morals
will open your eyes to an unlikely honesty that will shake you from the
inside out. It’s a good play, and it’s also a good read. On top of
that, a
good lesson and insight to what we sometimes turn away from.
From the husband, sorrowfully inviting as he drains his glass along
with his
worries, to meeting the children, disturbed amongst the disruption of
their
parents, to the unlikely reunion after such a sudden leave, An American
Portrait tells you everything you didn’t think anyone would admit to.
The detailed tapestry of the unfortunate, realistic American family,
with
all its flaws displayed shamelessly. A statement beyond statements,
this
album is going down as an indie classic.
-Arie Musil 01/15/06
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