Jay Reatard
Watch Me Fall
Matador
I wrote off Jay Reatard for the longest time. He seemed to be trying to hard to provoke, too calculated. I liked the ideas behind his previous bands more than the tantrums they stirred up. He reminded me of the kids in junior high who wore suspenders covered with ironic buttons. Weird for the sake of being weird, desperate for attention.
Then I read a review of Watch Me Fall. It claimed his new songs were poppier. It also compared the record to the Verlaines. That snared my attention. Verlaines comparisons are few and far between (a shame, that). I sampled two or three songs from Watch Me Fall and they made a quick impression. Either I had the guy wrong or he changed his act a lot. Or maybe we met halfway. Regardless, this is a remarkable record.
Watch Me Fall offers dozens of footholds for pop fans: the pretty acoustic guitar lead on “Wounded,” the gentle, Ray Davies vocals on “I’m Watching You,” the Peter Buck jangle that volleys with the Pete Townsend windmill action on “Before I Was Caught,” the Queen-like pomp and circumstance of “Nothing Now.” Every song has something to make it appealing. (As for the Verlaines reference I think the Chills, another long-running, overlooked New Zealand band is more accurate but that’s hairsplitting.)
So, is it a pure pop sell out? Hardly. The feedback on “Can’t Do It Anymore” is there to undermine the party, going on longer than it needs too. The guitars on the verse to “Nothing Now” buzz like a mosquito in my ear. And the drums, man, so stiff and mechanical, I have a hard time forgetting they’re programmed. (Are they?) The lyrics reach across three sub-genres: I Suck, People Suck, and Life Sucks. But he’s not wallowing in this dark state of mind or celebrating it or asking for pity. They’re more like an internal monologue that’s seeped out. (All of which might imply that this record reveals a more authentic side of Jay Reatard, as opposed to the cartoonish character of previous records. Could be. Just as likely Watch Me Fall presents another character.)
Pulling all of the above into cohesive songs is what makes Watch Me Fall so intriguing. Both sides—the crowd pleasing pop elements and the bratty antagonism—are given equal consideration. Longtime fans may find the record too easy to digest but newcomers should check out “It Ain’t Gonna Save Me,” “Wounded,” and “There Is No Sun.”
-- Mike Faloon
Related: Remembering Jay Reatard
Jay Reatard - "It Ain't Gonna Save Me"
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