Frank Black would like to tell you about his divorce.
Divorce is a wildcard in music. Broken homes, like broken-down pick up trucks, are inseparable from the twang of country. Blues licks were created for the sole purpose of losing wives and girlfriends. Like funerals, and for that matter illiteracy, divorce is an easier concept to write about than experiential trauma.
Marvin Gaye was no novice in singing about failing relationships. \I Heard it Through the Grapevine"" is perhaps the greatest song ever sung on the subject. But grappling with his own divorce on a record, Marvin Gaye so confused critics that an urban legend still supposes was recorded with failure in mind. Somehow, it is easier to accept the album as a vengeful crack at a wife who had won the royalties for the record in an alimony settlement, than an introspective, less buoyant Marvin Gaye.
And now, Frank Black would like to tell you about his divorce. offers an introspective, somber, moping Frank Black, the type we have never seen and will never see again. Playful is the word critics normally ascribe to Frank Black; quirky is the kind of word which his fans want to hear ascribed to his albums. is bleak and desolate, often brilliant, but challenging for his fans who grew up listening to the Pixies bounce through songs packed with hooks and energy.
Pixies albums were always so chipper and so good-natured. It's staggering to listen to an album by a former Pixie so lacking hope. The honky-tonk, front-door confrontation Frank Black has with death and divorce is resolved by his proclaiming ""You can see here by my grin / That I just don't give a fuck."" ""My Favorite Kiss"" encases a desire to leave the tour circuit to stay in one place within a brilliant, simple guitar melody. ""The New House of the Pope"" sees Black take up drinking after his wife leaves him, ""Everything is New"" mourns the whitewashing of a painful past and ""Manitoba"" closes the album with the haunting summation of love lost: ""I have seen the face of God, and I have dearly paid.""
Musically, contains a mastery of a range of styles. Frank Black not only succeeds with the same aggressive post-punk he had in the past, but also when he adopts country or throws Latin beats behind the rock or seasons songs with Rolling Stones-esque kinetics. This is a diverse album, but never seems to attempt a sound outside of its reach, attempt to draw irony from its diversity or include a genre to water down its sound. Hollow and wanting, the songs match their lyrics. ""My Favorite Kiss"" is a clear standout, a rare track with a veiled loneliness, echoing its narrator's false acceptance of his lot in life.
Frank Black has released seven albums in the past five years. This is neither the best nor the worst, but by far the most honest. While a departure from much of his other work, is satisfyingly sad.
