John Singer Sergeant - John Singer Sergeant
John Singer Sergeant
John Singer Sergeant
Unless you're a serious art historian, the name John Singer Sergeant isn't going to mean much to you. In the context of this album, the name is a fake, chosen by multi-instrumentalist John Dufilho, a Texas-based gent who has logged time with the Deathray Davies and the Apples In Stereo. The original Sergeant—or, rather, Sargent—was a painter in the early 20th century whose work varied in both medium and style. Impressionism, portraiture, charcoal, watercolor, oils—he did it all. We hesitate to put words in Dufilho's mouth, but our impression is that it was a pointed choice of moniker, meant to evoke the multi-layered world of these songs. Because just as he is able to jump between the garage power of Deathray Davies and the sunny-side-up pop of the Apples, Dufilho moves in many different directions on this collection.
He emphasizes this by inviting a range of talent to handle the vocals on these tracks, including Death Cab For Cutie guitarist Chris Walla, Rhett Miller of the Old 97's, his Apples bandmate Robert Schneider, former Kool And The Gang vocalist Sir Earl Toon, solo artist Ben Kweller and Centro-matic/Monsters Of Folk-er Will Johnson. Dufilho chose his guests wisely for each track, playing to their vocal strengths. Kweller sings a dulcet pop ballad (“Mountains, Oceans, Elephants”); Walla unfurls his wispy tones in tandem with breathy female foil Rachel Demy (“Normal Sounds Weird”); and Toon fronts an organ-driven lite-funk number (“Dizzy Joy”).
Thankfully, this isn't an experiment in diversity for diversity's sake. The album never feels like it jumps unnecessarily in far-flung directions. Instead, it flows smoothly, connected by a sturdy through line of strong pop melodies and Dufilho's expert playing. The moves from the space pop of “Jinxed” to the funky “Dizzy Joy” to a woozy, They Might Be Giants-like number called “My Own Worst Critic” (featuring a great, restrained vocal turn from Miller) are beautiful lateral slides that, like the album as a whole, never fail to impress and invigorate.
Kirtland http://www.kirtlandrecords.com
