Joe Lally "There to Here" (Dischord)
By Dave Schutz
Tuesday. Dec 05, 2:12 PM
Fails to inspire.

Last spring, when Neil Young, wondering where were all the young people and their protest albums, was hurriedly throwing together Living With War, Fugazi bassist Joe Lally was working on There to Here, his first solo album. It’s an explicitly political affair and, as one might expect, pretty heavy on the bass. So heavy, in fact, that Lally seems to be challenging the magnificent power of his bass playing to carry an entire album. And it is a magnificent thing that most of these tunes grab attention with nothing but Lally’s voice, his patently simple, dub-inflected bass lines, and occasional percussion and ambient guitar. More compelling, though, are the more fleshed-out pieces like “The Resigned” and “All Must Pay” and the fact that any momentum these songs lend to the album is countered by the bare minimalism of tracks like “Factory Warranty” and the a cappella “Sons And Daughters” is in the end disappointing, like he took the challenge a little too far.

Which isn’t to disparage minimalism: on a strictly musical level, it’s an enjoyable album. But it’s clear that Lally’s intent was for the spare, repetitive music to serve as a platform for the lyrics. While Young’s latest stab at the protest record was a yawner for its plain-spokenness and lack of artistry, Lally’s fails by being too abstract, which seems to have more or less trickled down from Fugazi. In the end, it doesn’t matter much if you’re telling it straight or using overwrought poetics and muddled metaphors: if you’re dealing mostly in truisms, you’ll have a tough time grabbing attention. Case in point: “The Resigned” appropriates a zombie metaphor toward that enigma that is our president and doesn’t do much better than, say, Son Volt’s “Jet Pilot” at making a compelling statement or offering a revealing point of view.

There are quotable lines here and there, some of which might serve to get some people riled up if they had a musical ton of bricks (like Fugazi) behind them, but that’s not even the point, really. It’s the same lyrical blandness that was the problem with Living With War, but the difference is that album had a better shot at converting people than Lally does. When, in his case, you’re primarily reaching people who already agree with what you’re saying, the paramount task is to be inspiring. But there’s a cold, flat feeling within There to Here, which may be emotionally honest: I know there’s a certain torpor in my feelings about the war lately, which isn’t necessarily indicative of a lack of caring; however, I’m looking for something to jack me out of that. Joe Lally meekly crooning “the microscopic fundament on which everything depends must be respected or will retaliate,” while a good line, inspires only a knowing nod and a reinforcement of my cowering fear, not the “fuck yeah, let’s fix this mess” that comes from listening to Dylan’s “Masters of War.” Again, I feel that this is an honest album, but its fatal flaw is that in being so, it ends up defeating its own purpose.
www.joelally.com
www.dischord.com

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Dave Schutz

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