CD Baby
2004
Painting A Burning Building
About This Album
"You speak German," Brandon Wiard gushes, after complimenting the object of "Already in Amazement" on how great she looks in blue jeans. By the time it is discovered that she also plays the cello, it's impossible not to guess and endorse Wiard's next rhyme -- "I feel my legs turning to Jell-O..." This is because simplistic bliss like this makes indie pop antithetical to agenda. There's no proving how dirty your guitar tone is, or "songs" that amount to jagged treatises on apathy toward the listener. Like work from the Apples in Stereo, Saturday Looks Good to Me, or even Ben Kweller, Wiard's Painting a Burning Building coats its craft in the gooey white love foam of Casiotone and melodica, horn sections and sleigh bells. It's here to entertain, but also to be wistful about the little things, painting in primary color, conveying emotion but keeping the output planar, like a Roy Lichtenstein print hanging in a bedroom mini-studio. There are songs about girls ("Amazement"; the bittersweet strings and piano of "Caroline"), songs strengthened by their vocal presence (the anthemic "Moving On"), and the inevitable trip into winding pop concept grandiosity, the story of a relationship buffeted by strong winds and stronger wills.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9)

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