Dead Man’s Bones

Dead Man’s Bones

[4/5]



Ryan Gosling is clearly not the typical actor aspiring to be a rockstar. He isn’t putting on a bizarre public persona in preparation for a hip-hop album a la Joaquin Phoenix nor is he using his performative charisma to front a spotlight-grabbing rock band in the spirit of Juliette Lewis. Instead, the heartthrob from The Notebook wrote and recorded a lo-fi collection of bluesy songs about zombies and ghosts with his friend Zach Shields. The 12 tracks were initially intended as the soundtrack for a play the duo were penning, but when that fell through they decided to transform the music into an actual album with the help of producer Tim Anderson (Ima Robot) and a kids choir from the Silverlake Conservatory of Music.



Gosling and Shields play all the instruments on the disc and sing along with the kids choir–which sounds like a recipe for disaster but in actuality it’s both compelling and surprising well-rendered. “Buried In Water” could almost be a stripped down b-side from Murder By Death’s Who Will Survive, And What Will Be Left of Them? and “My Body’s A Zombie For You” is a tambourine-laced love song with a doo-wop twang and a chorus led by enthusiastic young voices that concludes in a splash of handclaps. The production is minimal, with mistakes visible, and the track often left running a few seconds too long. But that raw, in-the-moment sensibility is one of the things that makes this disc so engaging. That is, it’s easy accept Gosling and Shields as talented because it’s obvious they made these songs–and they enjoyed doing so. Nothing is glossed over and everything is exposed.



If Gosling’s name wasn’t part of this album’s marketing plan, you’d think Dead Man’s Bones were just another new, intriguing band releasing an unconventional album. Maybe that’s just how we should think of them. (ANTI-) Emily Zemler



GO DOWNLOAD: “Buried In Water”