Austin Sound

“If time was a river you wear like a sleeve, it’s sewn with a thread of hope so short you’d hardly believe,” sings Shawn Jones, a faint hint of sarcasm in his voice, though not enough to overcome the imagery of the phrase itself. Jones may very well be the thread that holds in the loose stitching of the album’s conflicting themes – everything from Pulling Up Floors-style emotional confessions to dark cynical humor – but also incorporates that small but distinct glimmer of “hope.”  The space of the full-length allows the themes and instrumentation that were so densely crammed into the Lovely Sparrows debut Pulling Up Floors, Pouring on (New) Paint EP to diffuse and develop more distinctly, though hardly in isolation. The album is Jones at his best, refusing to allow his listeners to take his heart’s complaints too seriously, but reminding us behind every good joke is a stark reality.

First and foremost, the album makes considerable progress in expanding on the accomplishments of the EP that came before it. It’s easy to see the extra space allotted to Jones’ songwriting is put to good use: his lyrics are allowed time to develop into increasingly complex images, sometimes of the landscape imagery that often characterizes Jones’ writing (as in “Praire”), but also more interesting conceits, such as a flooded living room (in “Living Room”), and short but poignant one-liners like “all the jealous lovers who insisted they were true, but leave like funeral roses after they’re through” in “Year of the Dog.”

The dense instrumentation that gained the band notoriety on Pulling Up Floors is, more or less, equally present on this album, and Jones’ classical training shines in his ability to match his compelling melodies with the perfect undertones. Classical style nylon guitar often serves as the foundation, as in “Larks & Owls” and “Teenage Viking,” where it is most present. In other cases, as in “Department of Foreseeable Outcomes,” a bright, mercilessly-strummed acoustic drives the songs in a way that ought to satisfy everyone’s collective longing for just one more Neutral Milk Hotel album. In true Sparrows style though, Jones hardly thinks twice before ripping that serenity apart with the growl of an electric guitar or the rolling clamor of a drum kit, as “Living Room” and “Bury the Cynics” both evolve into considerably more energetic numbers than the rest of the album. Quite simply, so far as instrumentation is concerned, Jones knows exactly what he’s doing, and does a damn fine job of it throughout.

Lyrically, there is a depth to the songs that was missing on Pulling Up Floors, especially Jones’ cynical humor and sarcastic remarks, which may be the true lyrical accomplishments of the album. “Department of Foreseeable Outcomes” is thoroughly hilarious (if somewhat disturbing); take for instance: “So I called the Department of Foreseeable Outcomes / They said you should have known better / I said yes, but I moved here for the weather.” Sincere as his qualms about the past may be, conveying them through anything other than a veil of humor seems to not do the emotions justice. “Year of the Dog” has perhaps the truest observation on the album, which again is tied up in humor: “I was wading out to save you / You were into that romantic shit and wanted to die young.” Sure, the scatological term is funny, but as any modern man trying to meet a woman’s “expectations” knows, it’s near impossible to compete with the knight-errants of primetime (“McDreamy,” Dan Humphrey, etc.).

Immediately following such an obvious joke though, is the line: “There are no haunted places, only people we still wish we could see.” Humor and sincerity, both equally striking reflections of the reality they represent, but using them together, Jones’ songwriting is more powerful, containing life’s multitudes, embodying the confusion of decision-making, and considering the past and the present both personally and theoretically, and after all that setting it to music. Though it took him long enough, it seems Jones has finally given us a worthy follow up to Pulling Up Floors.

Mp3 from Bury the Cynics:
Department Of Forseeable Outcomes

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