| Making his
bid to avoid the forgotten ex-bandmember scrap heap
is Jay Bennett, the one-man wrecking crew of a session
musician who brought his multi-instrumental versatility
and songwriting chops to (at the time) alt-country darlings
Wilco. His influence shone in the candy coating on 1999's
Summerteeth, which broke the group out of the
No Depression ghetto. But eventually Bennett pursued
a rivalry with Jeff Tweedy, Wilco's main man, a mistake
that helped earn him his pink slip. He's even made the
damning admission he would have stripped some of the
haunted Sister Lovers vibe from this year's Wilco
stunner Yankee Hotel Foxtrot to tip its balance
away from weird and toward pop.
In
a catty counterprogramming move, The Palace at
4am (Part I), Bennett's pairing with longtime
collaborator Edward Burch, saw release the same day
as YHF. Head-to-head, Palace
doesn't match that creative breakthrough, but the
record does present the duo's own brand of intimate
and satisfying country-tinged power pop awash in warm
vintage keyboard tones. While a bouncy bar-band version
of Wilco outtake "Shaking Sugar" typifies their offerings,
the B-boys are at their best on "Drinking on Your
Dime" and "Venus Stopped the Train," slow-burning
slices of the lowlife as murky and beautiful as a
hunk of amber holding a fossilized dragonfly.
Last time through town, Bennett and Burch were
all Simonized and Garfunkeled. On this trip they'll
have a full-band lineup anchored by members of Denton,
Texas, indie rockers Centro-Matic, who served effectively
in a similar role during Varnaline's most recent L.A.
visit. Meanwhile, Bennett might do well to study up
on how Tweedy has exited the shadow of, and ultimately
outpaced, his own former rival and Uncle Tupelo partner
Jay Farrar. Things might just get interesting...
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