Undertow Music
2002
Murder Of Tides
About This Album
Describing the sound of Will Johnson's solo debut, Murder of Tides, as stark is like calling Niagara Falls wet -- well yes, it is, but such a simplistic handle doesn't begin to do it justice. Johnson, the hyper-prolific singer/songwriter wunderkind behind Texas indie rock outfits Centro-Matic and South San Gabriel, creates a hauntingly hazy sonic portrait with nothing more than sparse acoustic guitar, sampled strings, Mellotron, organ, some whistling, one strategically placed shard of weeping fiddle at album's end, and of course his own torn shirt cuff of a voice. Murder of Tides' mood is that of a long-deserted, 150-year-old house where dark winds howl through cracked windows, and the characters who populate the record's ten songs are equally spooky, sketchy, and insane. "Philo Manitoba," for instance, chronicles the aftermath of a man who drinks a gasoline-and-phosphate, sets himself on fire, and laughs out loud amidst his transformation into "a real live human bomb"; it's one of the most quietly gripping songs you'll ever set ears on. Occasional Westerberg-ian turns of phrase (e.g., "You say your life's like the movies/I say it's more like trash TV" on "Tent of Total Mystery") ply Johnson's ample lyrical wares, ever so slightly allaying the pitch-black themes explored throughout the album.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 7)

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