Random Spirit Lover

Rate It! Avg: 4.0 (515 ratings)
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ALBUM INFORMATION
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Total Tracks: 12   Total Length: 58:30

eMusic Review

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Tim Noakes

eMusic Contributor

04.22.11
A band possessed by the spirit of Shane MacGowan, Adam Ant and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!
Label: Jagjaguwar / SC Distribution

For the past three years Spencer Krug has used his Sunset Rubdown alter ego to showcase the offbeat side of personality. In comparison to his work with Wolf Parade, Destroyer, Frog Eyes and Swan Lake, Krug's output as Sunset Rubdown is sonically overwhelming. It will either enthral you, or send you running to MOR safety.

More epic than the bedroom ambience of 2005's Snake's Got a Leg and last year's Shut Up I Am Dreaming!, Random Spirit Lover revolves around huge echo swells, clanging crash cymbals, jangly glockenspiels and strange folk tales. Krug delivers each of the 12 songs as if he's possessed by the spirit of Shane MacGowan, Adam Ant and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! Which is to say, expect the unexpected.

Krug and his three accomplices move from barnstorming indie hoedowns (“The Mending of the Gown”) to complex Arcade Fire-worthy epics such as “Magic vs. Midas,” a song that gradually morphs from a delicate harmonica and glockenspiel ballad into an all consuming slice of alternative Americana.

The song titles point to the Canadian quartet's obsession with myths and magic, a fixation that's underscored on the medieval carnival freakshow of “Up On Your Leopard…”… read more »

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The Mending of the Gown

IndySucks

By far one of my favorite songs. I feel like Krug / Sunset Rubdown / Wolf Parade, etc. can be pretty hit-or-miss sometimes, but trust me - The Mending of the Gown is a tour de force of awesomeness.

user avatar

Good stuff.

kukul

I am a fan of Wolf Parade, but not a rabid fan. I am a much bigger fan of Sunset Rubdown, because I am drawn to more "interesting" music. It is precisely the more random and less produced quality of Sunset Rubdown that has me listening to them more than Wolf Parade. Same can be said for Swan Lake, with the added greatness of Dan Bejar.

user avatar

You either get it or you don't

knoxjon

And I don't. At first, I thought I could settle into this album and really like it, but after a few spins, the songs started to grate on me. I want to like it, but I just don't.

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A Feeling

LaGringoBekkeringo

I had this on my $50 sony 2 gig while walking up Thurlow Street today. I am a big guy, and one guitar flick made me visibly verge on tears. I was looked on with curiosity by a young lady exiting her building.

user avatar

Let me just say this..

bassboyeuphony92

I came across Sunset Rubdown by accident-i was searching for Wolf Parade after hearing "You are a Runner..."-and initially, they didn't seem too fantastic. Then I grew up. Now, I love Sunset Rubdown, and in my opinion think they are better than Wolf Parade, if not always musically then lyrically. Also, everybody's favorite Wolf Parade track "I'll Believe In Anything" was written ny Spencer..

user avatar

give it a chancy chance

paultaylor_2009

The first couple listens will undoubtedly be challenging, but the payoff is more than worth it. I suppose it doesn't hurt that this album features some of my fav. tracks of 07 in "Mending of the Gown" and "The Taming of the Hands..."

user avatar

Boring

Tolly

I dont really get this whole new wave of bands that are trying their outmost to sound quirky and off-kilter. All i can say that this 'charisma' sounds anything but spontaneous. The 'New Weird America' movement seems to have ran out of steam. This album sounds like 3rd rate Wolf Parade.

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oh my holy lord

Deku

This is one of my favorite cds of all time, and i have heard a lot. This cd is hard to get, took me about 5 listens to fully start appreciating. The complexity though is what makes it great. This music sticks on you for a LONG time. Don't be suprised if you get to the point where you litterally cant think of anything except for a song on here, for me it was "for the pier". That song blew my mind. My favorite cd download on emusic so far. Give it time, you will not be sorry

user avatar

Lo-fi-electro-intellipunk?

billicatons

(This is a summarised version of my full review, which is at http://mog.com/cogwheeldogs) Few artists successfully combine aspects of everything from troubadour-esque, quasi-Medieval balladry, through Music Hall, to 80s synth-pop. This outstanding ability to bring together disparate musical elements sets the band alongside artists such as Joanna Newsom – different though their respective ‘sounds’ and influences may be. Songs range from lo-fi-electro-intellipunk jigs, through jerky, arpeggiator-laced takes on Rogers & Hammerstein, to dark, retro delayed-synth interludes, like instrumental music to a lo-fi indie science fiction movie. Seldom have I come across an album that successfully covers so much musical ground, yet loses none of its focus and integrity. Excellent, and – I predict – enduringly interesting and rewarding. (Read the full review (and others) on my MOG page: http://mog.com/cogwheeldogs)

user avatar

if you think this lacks songcraft...

luukman

you're completely wrong, sir. I don't know what you consider "good songcraft"... but this album is undeniably, intricately crafted. For the uninitiated, sunset rubdown here 'craft' a perfectly cohesive album. Each song flows into the next unimpeded. As far as songwriting goes, Spencer Krug's songs are rife with complexity. Abstract metaphors abound, yet they're not indecipherable. This has to be the most satisfying album I've heard all year. Please buy this.

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They Say All Media Guide

Vocalist/keyboardist/mad pop scientist Spencer Krug made the jump from California (Absolutely Kosher) to the Midwest (Indiana-based Jagjaguwar) for 2007′s Random Spirit Lover, a cacophonous slab of 12 tracks that bleed into each other like a dismembered, dystopian version of the Flaming Lips’ Soft Bulletin. The occasional Frog Eyes and full-time Wolf Parade member’s third foray into the solo world feels a lot less like a foray and more like a firm commitment. Like Frog Eyes, Krug weaves fractured, complex, cacophonous pop songs glued together by a distinct love for melody, but where Frog Eyes wants to violate every part of your body, Sunset Rubdown wants you to stick around and watch the carnage, not be a part of it. Random Spirit Lover bristles with the same manic energy and odd beauty that made 2006′s Shut Up I Am Dreaming so rich. Part lo-fi bedroom project and part hi-fi tribute to the excesses of ’70s art rock, standout rockers like “Mending of the Gown,” “Up on Your Leopard, Upon the End of Your Feral Days,” and “Taming of the Hands That Came Back to Life” never stick around long enough to grow tiresome, as Krug keeps things economical. Fans of “Blackberry Way”-era Move, Berlin-era Bowie, late-period Of Montreal, and the Danielson Famile will eat this up like the candy it is. – James Christopher Monger

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