The 5iest of 5s
First heard his cover of Big Star’s 13 which really blew me away as a late teen.
Reviewers at the time compared him to Simon & Garfunkel or one of the Buckleys or other acoustic songwriters but that does him a disservice. I think he’s the most direct continuation of bands like Big Star, the Beatles and the Beach Boys - in terms of composition. It carries on those classic traditions but it expands on them. That he recorded most of the instruments by himself is an even bigger feat. That doubling up aesthetic and the shifting chord changes are an instant nostalgia trip and it’s so good at creating worlds.
Learning about how he was a survivor of abuse as a youngster, and that giving up on his band and changing his vocal style was a direct decision due to reading feminist theory and considering the rock scene dumb and macho - that was formative for me too.
The lyrics are incredible obviously. It’s so dumb to write him off as one dimensional or soft because so many of the refrains are barbed as they come and hit like a freight train. Yes they’re often the absolute depths of depression or addiction and that’s a bit heavy for some but that’s not on him, that’s on the listener. The last album being an incredibly beautiful thing despite being borne out of complete isolation and paranoia that his own record label was sending secret investigators to steal the outtakes Some incredibly sad footage exists where he’s so fucked he can’t strum, and an alarmingly dramatic/tragic end - but he created a body of work that makes me feel less alone at any time. He was just the best, sometimes it’s like plugging into some universal truth. Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive.
