You put it together/And you pull it apart
You're lapsing cultures/You don't remember
— "The Search" - Minutemen
It is a small detail. In literature, those are often the ones that have a large impact. In Walker Percy's 1961 National Book Award-winning novel, his protagonist John "Binx" Bolling runs into his cousin Neil Lovell at the library and he misses a golden opportunity to put it together. We have seen Binx as a keen observer but too often, he is content to take a seat on the proverbial fence.
For some time now the impression has been growing upon me that everyone is dead. It happens when I speak to people. In the middle of a sentence it will come over me: yes, beyond a doubt - this is death. There is little to do but groan and make an excuse and slip away as quickly as one can.
This is an impossibly heavy (to borrow from the oncoming counterculture) statement to make about a loner in the middle of the social hour. Granted, the anxiety about possibly leaving his cloistered world in Gentilly for a work trip (Chicago, in a matter of hours) or the near future (Uncle Jules mentions moving to the main office downtown) has Binx rattled.
Like all good Modernists, Percy has Binx living in a bit of an anesthetized world. Neither his recent success in doubling the value of a parcel of family land nor his failure to engage with his latest voluptuous secretary in parallel to his growing interest has shown any real impact. What does make him irritated? Kate compared him to a past roommate who traveled monthly to visit every iron deer in Westchester County. However, even this slight hint of anger at his cousin receives a parenthetical thought that later reverses his opinion.
Outside of his precious escape via his "only book," "Arabia Deserta," Binx mentioned reading Schroedinger's "What Is Life?" and Einstein's "The Universe As I See It." So, how does Binx see this world? Is it his universe? Is it his life? Is he (and some could say future generations) too busy gathering details to enjoy the "big picture" of life? When he sees a picture of his new secretary Sharon's father on her desk, he is quick to evaluate that what makes him so "ugly," makes Sharon beautiful. Suddenly, just like scanning the newspaper for the right movie, and then verifying it is the right theatre to see it points to an implied theory that the best connections are made in the most secure environment.
Binx is at his most resolute where he is comfortable. He frames the necessary conversation with movie theatre employees as a need to prevent him from being "lost, cut loose metaphysically speaking." Mrs. de Marco at the Tivoli hates her job there. Binx knows he would love it. Mrs. de Marco tells Binx about her son "stationed in Arizona" and how "he hates the desert." Binx immediately counters with "I would like it out there very much." During a three-hour layover in Cincinnati years before, Binx went to the Altamont where he befriended the ticket seller - who still sends him Christmas cards every year.
This comfort level at the theatre is to prevent him "slipping clean out of space and time." In his words, Binx does not want to be a "ghost" not knowing "whether one is in the downtown Loews in Denver or suburban Bijou in Jacksonville." Later in the panic that is setting in after Uncle Jules tells him that he is going to Chicago (and a little like the hint of anger with Kate,) he vents by characterizing his uncle as one to whom "it is nothing to him to close his eyes in New Orleans and wake up in San Francisco and think the same thoughts."
So, we are in the library with Binx. Here in another haunt, where he stops to read liberal and conservative periodicals - again, never taking a side. Neil materializes with a best-seller that is publically described as somewhat "gloomy and pessimistic." Neil, noting her two sons are grown and out the door for college ebulliently cries "I am having the time of my life." She and her husband re-evaluated their lives. She is taking Philosophy courses during the day and working in a theatre at night.
Through the transom that Percy provides to us, we see what is on the other side for Binx - if he just goes through that door. Neil has embraced freedom. When Kate actually talks to Binx beyond coded grumbling, she too talks about freedom and physically walking out of the door of her home. Binx has been offered a chance at this. In devotion to his habits and regulated style of living, he fails to see the opportunity for anything but ending another conversation by talking about death.
(Neil) To our utter amazement we (with her husband) discovered that we both have the same life-goal. Do you know what it is?
To make a contribution, however small, and leave the world just a little better off.
—
Mik Davis is the record store manager at T-Bones Records & Cafe in Hattiesburg.
New MUSIC Next Week
FONTAINES D.C. - Romance [PINK LP/CD] (XL/Redeye) • In the wave of post-Idles UK signings, Dublin's Fontaines D.C. 2019's "Dogrel" placed the Dublin band ahead of the pack. Fontaines smartly followed their first major tour with their second album "A Hero's Death" just a year later. The technicolor leap they took with the sweeping "Televised Mind" and the sincerity of the title cut giving them their own designation in the wide array of Post-Punk bands. 2022's "Skinty Fia" saw them incorporate both politics ("I Love You") and Electronic textures into their sound. With all of these changes (and a solo album from singer Grian Chatten out there,) the question arose - Will Fontaines slow down? "Romance" provides a resounding No. Having looked at their home from abroad for so long now, this new record with Arctic Monkeys producer James Ford is their most sonically broad yet. After nine months of each band member corralling all of their ideas from the road, "Romance" is pieced together to (finally) allow the band space to grow. The band has not run out of melodies or lyrics, but they are strangely content to write like this is somehow the end of the world. Inspired by Nineties cult favorites Primal Scream, the near US hit "Starburster" is almost a rap song complete with taking a breath during the barking chorus ("I'm gon' hit your business if it's momentary blissness") and a Blur-ian string-laden bridge. "Favourite" is a little brighter hearkened back to the crack of Eighties jangle mixed with modern U2-ish poeticism ("the misery made me another marked man.") While, "Here's the Thing" is a Glammy falsetto-driven pumper that provides the most concise and fitting lyric for the album: "So here's the thing, I need commotion." "Romance" is Fontaines D.C. translating their noise for all to hear.
To listen to the XL album in its entirety, join us at T-BONES for a World Premiere of "Romance" Saturday night at 6 p.m.
POST MALONE - F-1 Trillion [GREEN 2LP/CD] (Mercury Nashville/Republic) • In one of the more calculated albums in a while, talented singer/songwriter Post Malone sinks his teeth into modern Country. "F-1 Trillion" is sculpted and constructed for massive radio play. However, most of it is aimed squarely at the staid formatting that plagues it today. Malone, Post, Austin, whatever you want to call him, has a love for it. However, some of the guests included may make you draw the line between "hit-makers" and inspired collaborators. Every current album, needs a hit or two. His duets with Morgan Wallen and Blake Shelton definitely fit that bill, and fulfill the need to sing about drinking. The Wallen duet wisely concocts using its title "I Had Some Help" both against the ex-girlfriend in question and the buddies enlisted to dig Post out of this hole. The entire album is even packed with the necessary 20-second intros that radio uses. To his credit, Post hangs with Dolly (but seems to use Sierra Ferrell for background vocals? Hasn't Country Radio done enough relegating women to the backseat?) The remainder seems quite adrift. They quote Tim McGraw on their raucous opening duet "Wrong Ones" (which will never hit radio with its salty language - used effectively) that then takes the heat off of a track with legend Hank Williams, Jr. Luke Combs gets a pair of songs with Post, the good-time vibe of "Guy For That" makes it three Country Top 10s! The Chris Stapleton and Hardy cuts are well-written but not really in Post's range. The Jelly Roll collab "Losers" overstays its welcome by (as Country songs too often do) overusing its title line. If anything, "F-1 Trillion" is a throwback to the days when an album outlined its hits, and hoped you would not "notice" that the rest turned into a blur. No matter how processed it sounds, or how it manages to meet the standards of entry through Country's ever-narrowing gate, Post gives himself the album's best song "What Don't Belong To Me." While that one is not really a Country song per se, we hope that it could sneak in between all the whiskey/truck/regular job-isms and make room for a wider berth of songwriting on Country radio.
FALLING IN REVERSE - Popular Monster [CANDYLAND BLUE/LP] (Epitaph) • The story of singer Ronnie Radke is enough to fill ten albums of material. No matter how controversial his statements or behavior can be, Falling in Reverse has survived worse - the loss of founding guitarist Derek Jones. The latter frames reassembling the band (as well as corralling their four radio hits from the interregnum) into a new cohesive whole.
RAY LAMONTAGNE - Long Way Home [RED LP/CD] (Liula/Thirty Tigers/The Orchard) • Eight albums later, the high rasp of Ray LaMontagne finds a new home and new life with his own label. Enlisting the help of producer Seth Kauffman (Floating Action,) "Long Way Home" revives the early Seventies singer/songwriter bucolic lilt of his early career. In addition to this development, it is great to hear his crooning a little like Otis Redding on "I Wouldn't Change A Thing" as well.
FOSTER THE PEOPLE - Paradise State of Mind [PINK LP/CD] (Atlantic) • Not yet ready to hang up those pumped up kicks, Foster The People is shrinking down while expanding into bedroom/indie R&B and shimmery Electronic Pop (the very Ariel Pink "Chasing Low Vibrations.") Down to a duo, their funky sound was due an overhaul (the warmth of the MGMT-like "Take Me Back" is a step forward) even if Disco is a part of the new "State of Mind."
POM POKO - Champion [LP/CD] (Bella Union) • Norwegian avant Popsters Pom Poko have found a great unique formula for next generation SugarPop. While the band can get increasingly riffy and busy, vocalist Ranghild Fangel keeps it desperately sweet. "My Family" is both sincere and saccharine, but Fangel's emotive singing keeps the wild group behind her almost grounded. The abstract funk of "Champion" is one of the year's best singles. It's oft kilter feeling introduces bittersweetness into the picture, and the pre-chorus organization into the release of the sweet chorus is one of the best examples you will hear of inventive writing today.
DARK TRANQUILLITY - Endtime Signals [LP/CD] (Century Media/AMPED) • Melodic Metal is hard to fathom at times. Swedish Metal thankfully specializes in the swooping drama and compositional high-wire walking (Gothenburg's At The Gates, for example.) Recovering from the loss of former guitarist Fredrik Johannson and two members departing, vocalist Mikael Stanne and keyboardist Martin Brandstrom have taken over and pushed the band in a new direction. "Endtime Signals" pushes them well into Technical Metal on the galloping "Unforgivable" but is strangely radio friendly even with double-kick madness, a shredding mid-section and gravelly vocals.
GEL - Persona [PURPLE LP/CD] (Blue Grape) • Another grinding punk band that played Hattiesworld makes the leap to a big studio production. "Persona" is five massive tracks that capture their live excitement with two vocalists and raging riffs. "Persona" is a bonecrusher which could honestly end with the wind-up and leave you charged, while "Mirage" leaves you as shredded as vocalist Sami Kaiser's vocal chords.
