Album built to bore

Reviewing a new Built to Spill album is like reviewing a new Sonic Youth or Fall album. Granted, they've only been around since the early '90s (and, unlike the Fall, don't have 100,000 albums), but there's a certain weight on your shoulders when critiquing anything new by Doug Martsch and whatever new band members he's acquired for his latest release. \nThis is the band, after all, that put out two absolutely phenomenal albums in the late '90s: 1997's Perfect from Now On and 1999's head-exploding Keep it Like a Secret. At their zenith, they managed to foil Martsch's emotive songwriting with even more emotive guitar work. And what's more, it was good. \nThe truth, however, is that Martsch's compositions have gotten decidedly less jaw-dropping as time has worn on. That's not to say that they're not listenable -- they're still well developed and laden with extraordinary musical talent. However, with their latest release You in Reverse, they're starting to seem bored as well. Although the album opens with one of the few really up-tempo BTS songs I've ever heard ("Going Against Your Mind"), its attention-getting, energetic beginning turns into a meandering eight-minute jam. \n"Liar," "Traces" and "Mess with Time" are good songs, to be sure. However, they lack the excitement of songs like "Sidewalk" or the desperate immediacy of songs like "Velvet Waltz." With more than 10 years as a band, it seems that Martsch has finally run out of new ideas; nearly everything on this album sounds like Built to Spill, all right, but it doesn't necessarily sound interesting. \n"Conventional Wisdom," however, redeems things somewhat. It has the flaming guitar notes, the rock 'n' roll chord progression and even a few breakdowns for good measure. It's the best song on the album, and the one that most makes you think Built to Spill is going somewhere as opposed to rehashing their successes from the past decade. Plus, it ends with phenomenal shredding and wailing. \nWhen Built to Spill is good, they never get boring. Some of their songs are good enough that even when they extend to 20 minutes long in concert, you still don't want them to end. All things considered, You in Reverse is proof that the band can effortlessly write decent material. However, in contrast with the heights they once reached, their half-felt achievements seem like an entirely ear-pleasing disappointment.