John Vanderslice brings 'Emerald City' to our city for third time
By Jillian Mapes, Assistant Managing Editor
April 12, 2008 | 4 p.m.
Fresh off a tour in support of Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks, digi-indie musician John Vanderslice makes his third Athens appearance in a one-year span Saturday, April 12 at The Union alongside Athens' Nostra Nova and Dayton's Joe Anderl.
After three back-to-back tours in support of the July 2007 release of Emerald City, former Death Cab for Cutie tourmate Vanderslice is ready to make his next record, which he anticipates will be released in February.
“We just started to put together a group of songs for the [new] album,” Vanderslice said. “Every time I try to predict what the album will sound like when completed while I'm working on it, but in a week's time, the album sounds totally different.”
It is a fair assessment to say that Vanderslice’s upcoming album, like its most recent predecessors Pixel Revolt and Emerald City, will showcase the singer-songwriter’s proverbial “beef” with the U.S. government.
"I think there's an anti-government vibe that goes on in a lot of my music," Vanderslice said.
After experiencing the ongoing immigration battle between his French girlfriend-turned-wife and the U.S. government, Vanderslice has enough material to fuel his next five quirky, indie-pop releases.
"My feeling was that there was an arbitrary nature within governmental security policies, especially within airport security," Vanderslice said. "We were just going through this ridiculous wrangling with the government, and the whole immigration thing was just so poorly handled [by the government]."
Not surprisingly, Vanderslice has reservations regarding the future of American politics.
"I voted for Obama in the primaries," Vanderslice said. "If the Democratic Party doesn't come together soon, they're going to hand [the presidency] over to a senile and completely unstable-feeling neo-cop named John McCain."
Despite the scathing political undertones apparent on Emerald City, which Vanderslice partially attributed to his newfound insight on the immigration process, one would not exactly peg JV as the brooding rock star.
John Vanderslice’s most undisputed quality is his role as one of the nicest guys in the vast abyss that is indie rock. A close inspection of his lyrics, though, and it is easy to spot shining displays of anger, paranoia, isolation and bitterness.
The situations that Vanderslice describes within his music are specific enough for listeners to believe that he is speaking from firsthand experience. Behind the eerie piano, dreamy guitar feedback and surreal vocal harmonizing on the jazz-tinged song “Tablespoon of Codeine,” for example, stands a bizarre lyrical story of paranoia and surveillance. The song begins, “There is a guy from the Sun-Tribune/Staking out my house in a Chevy Impala/Since yesterday noon.”
The disparity between John Vanderslice’s sweetheart persona and his bitingly descriptive lyrical voice heightens the mystery behind this San Franciscan musician. One cannot help but wonder if the man has multiple personality syndrome, or if he is simply a brilliant lyrical storyteller.
Despite the literary quality of his lyrics, Vanderslice, in eternal modesty, scoffs at the notion of penning written works.
"I've considered being a porn star and a NBA player, too," Vanderslice said with a hearty chuckle, in response to considering work as a professional writer. “I have an infinite amount of admiration for writers, but I would never call myself anything but a pop lyricist."
In addition to detailed lyrical content that continues to perplex even long-time fans, Vanderslice’s melodic contributions are careful enough to stand up against microscopic inspection, but not too careful to lose their whimsical appeal.
Sure, he’ll throw in some midi techno beats, glockenspiel and sweeping violin lines on an impulse – and he often does. Yes, the strum of Vanderslice’s acoustic guitar can seem overly casual at times. But one’s appreciation of John Vanderslice’s music grows with deep inspection because it is obvious that he places much thought and effort into his signature musical style.
The influence of Stephen Malkmus and his former band Pavement can be observed, which Vanderslice said had much to do with his band’s recent opening slot on Malkmus’ tour. Replace the overt, often vulgar feedback of Pavement’s music with moog synthesizer lines that can only be described as intense, and the inspiration is more easily understood.
“We haven’t supported a big act in a long time,” Vanderslice said. “We did it because we’re big fans of the band [Malkmus and the Jicks].”
Vanderslice’s solo live show, however, follows its own pattern. It is nearly guaranteed that Vanderslice will end his shows with off-stage encores and a Lil Wayne dance parties.
One can also bet good money that Vanderslice will return to Athens with the release of his next album early next year, he said.
"We love it there [Athens]," Vanderslice said enthusiastically. "First off, one of the fastest Internet connections I've ever had has been on OU's campus, so that for me, makes it stand out amongst the many cities and venues of the world. Second of all, the promoters in Athens are very, very sweet to us, and the clubs there have been great."
Vanderslice’s Saturday show, sponsored by the All Campus Radio Network as a part of a 10-day celebration known as ACRN Week, starts at 10 p.m. at The Union.
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