Laura Kerry
When Shakespeare wrote the phrase, “What’s in a name?” he wasn’t thinking about future popular music. But it’s a question that has great bearing on the way we experience contemporary artists. The name of a band often leads (or misleads) us to frame its music in a particular way, affecting our perception of it.
You can’t approach The Adventures of the Silver Spaceman (TAOTSS) without considering their name. Long and evocative, it resembles the title of a comic book set in space or a dystopian superhero novel. And the music does not disappoint. TAOTSS, started by former Haybaby drummer, Zach Ellis, has morphed into a four- or five–piece band with a unique rock sound and a collection of three memorable albums. In their fifth release overall, Bare Bones Part II: Electric Earth, the band expands their epic sound across five songs that are as spacey and psychedelic as expected, all while maintaining a focused clarity.
Also hinted at in the band’s name is a drama that plays out between dark and light. Sometimes, the album courses with a low, creeping pulse that conjures an image of a villain-run dystopian streetscape, while at others, it swells with the warmth of a dawn the morning after the villain has been vanquished. The opener, “Electric Earth,” is brooding. Beginning on a clear, minor guitar chord, it slowly builds into menacing a cadence, led by a propulsive bass line and tight, rapid drums. Ellis’ voice is raw and percussive as he paints a surreal landscape: “Crooked war, crooked battle / Crooked horse / Crooked saddle.”
But the next song, “Expulsions,” is glowing and sentimental, relying on the play between intertwining bright guitar lines and soft vocals. Ellis sounds reflective as he sings, “You take the wheel and I’ll drive faster / Until we lose control.” In the next three songs, TAOTSS swings between these two extremes, landing on a peppy classic rock chord progression in “Weather King Part II,” finding a Bowie-meets-Sparklehorse spaciness in “Silver & Alone,” and summoning the wickedness of country blues-rock and the fervor of post-punk with shouts, a grinding guitar, and a slide sound in “Breath of Fire.”
Missing in TAOTSS epic title, though, is the vulnerability of an album that, despite its sonic journeys to dystopian streets, new dawns, and strange planets, is seemingly quite personal. “I know my mom would miss me if I died,” Ellis sings in “Expulsions”; “I’m looking at old pictures of you / I’m wishing that I was alone with you,” he confesses in a hushed falsetto on “Silver & Alone”; and on “Breath of Fire,” the grit of emotion that motivates the lines, “I just want to devour / Want to eat it all up,” is palpable. Behind each explosive and finely crafted track lies a sincere (albeit occasionally offbeat) core, proving that a name can sometimes serve as a happy trick. It’s a pleasant surprise when, on the first, second, or any number of listens, a band turns out to be much more than its name, no matter how epic it is.