There are few artists as reliable and as consistent as Dean Wareham. From Galaxie 500 to Luna to his collaboration with wife Britta Phillips, you could almost shuffle the songs and still make cohesive albums out of them. There seems no need to talk about "progression" in his discography. He knows his strengths - namely, writing pretty, wry, vaguely world-weary, mid-tempo, guitar-driven gems - and he offers up the same with every release. If artists like David Bowie or Beck are trying to show a different facet of the diamond with each new record, Wareham is merely rotating a colorful and intriguing marble.
That said, his new self-titled solo album can't help but betray a touch of producer Jim James's own special brand of sonic magic, but that just proves that the collaboration works. He affords Wareham a little reverbed space, with the occasional twangy riff to up the country-rock vibe that hovers above a few of the songs. Others maintain the ethereal Velvet Underground-esque drive that animates much of his work. All in all, what merely needs to be said is that the new record is a Dean Wareham project, and one where his name alone indicates the quality found therein.
-ERIC J. LAWRENCE
Track List:
1. The Dancer Disappears
2. Beat the Devil
3. Heartless People
4. My Eyes Are Blue
5. Love Is Not a Roof Against the Rain
6. Holding Pattern
7. I Can Only Give My All
8. Babes in the Woods
9. Happy & Free
Photo courtesy of the artist