Owen Is Going The Distance
This song gallops. That's my first takeaway here. After an exceedingly pretty lone acoustic guitar opening so sumptuously rendered that no one would dare call it "stark," a drumbeat comes in that kicks the song into a forward motion rarely seen in an Owen track. This supplants the sometimes static and wallpapery nature of Owen's earlier work with purpose and the feeling of reaching for something larger. To have an intention relayed so effectively in the music is a welcomed break from the expected.
As a huge fan of 2016's The King of Whys, I came to this new single hoping for a glimpse of that album's dark weariness as evoked in part by its denser production aspects. But what mastermind Mike Kinsella and returning producer S. Carey have cooked up here is more like a wide open prairie where the horizon is the true meeting of the ground and the dusky light. The only limitations in this space are those that arise from the endurance needed to keep chasing the desired goal.
"A New Muse" is essentially built out of the energy bestowed by changes of pace. Nearly two-and-a-half minutes in, another switch to dynamic fingerpicked strings interlocking together into a clockwork not unlike that of Kinsella's main gig. This gently leads the listener by the hand to another running stride; but even with the same tempo the feel of it has become slower, winding down as at the end of a marathon. Knees lock for a couple of steps and arms go haywire before the final halfway folded posture, time is given here to catch the breath again as the beginning strum fades back in to offer a paper cup filled with electrolytes. It's a recovery from action, a respite from the distance raced against the dual threats of memory and aspiration.
Lyrically, this is Kinsella at his best: turning pretty melodies into petty slights against the state of things. "Dear Lord, let me be anything but bored, or in love" doesn't necessarily pop as a contender for the inside of a Hallmark card, but here it reads as what it is: the masking of emotion with comfortable ennui. That it provides the lyrical bookends of the track is further proof that Owen can turn a vagary into a thesis statement with the best of them.
As a leadoff single and announcement to the world, "A New Muse" is reason to be thrilled at the prospect of getting caught in The Avalanche, scheduled to drop on June 19, 2020.
(Top Photo By Jonah Bayer from Going Off Track)
