In theory, computers are a boon to musicians interested in the classic art of pop arrangement. In the days of Brian Wilson and Burt Bacharach, it took a lot of planning to organize a number players and the studio clock kept going through all the mixing and tinkering. Now you can sit at home, record, layer, cut, and paste. Thing is, to do sophisticated arrangements and harmonic exploration correctly requires a certain amount of formal music training-- more than your average dude with a laptop has put in.
Nathan Michel studied composition at Princeton, so he has such a background. His first record for Tigerbeat6, ABCDef was typical of that label, heavy on noises that must have once seemed weird, light on recognizable patterns and repetition. To me it was good for a single listen, but Tigerbeat6 has put out so much in that vein that it must be connecting with somebody. On his second record Michel added vocals to his pieces; now, continuing his popward trajectory, his third album is heavily weighted toward conventional songs with vocals. The Beast isn't even an electronic record as such, as Michel records himself on guitar, drums, melodica, horns, reeds, keys, the list goes on.
For all its instrumental variety, The Beast sounds remarkably clean and balanced. Similar to Jim O'Rourke on Eureka and Stereolab since the late 90s, Michel's charts play down the bass and focus on subtle interplay in the midrange. Drums are mostly polite taps, while guitars and keyboards are given space to complete each other's sentences and congeal into clever chord progressions. It's the kind of music that sounds terrible loud but perfect at that level where it just fills the room with sound. Michel's even got a decent voice, especially compared to your average IDM guy who wants to give vocals a try. His singing on the title track is particularly strong, coming closer than anything else to the Beach Boys feel he obviously admires. The song's entwined nylon string guitars and various shakers evoke the island idyll High Llamas called "Hawaii".
Despite the sophista-pop proclivities, Michel hasn't left the Tbeat6 glitch world behind completely. The title track is pushed off course by the occasional intentional hiccup, a gentle reminder of the even acoustic music's ultimate digitalosity, but the carefully assembled mood endures. The drowsy piano ballad "Status Dive" contains similarly intriguing sonic tweaks, with odd intrusions of horns that seem to be peaking in from another record. Michel's voice keeps getting snagged on the hard drive in "Suds", lagging behind an upbeat tune that sounds like early, "jazzy" Chicago. Instrumentals like the buoyant technicolor calliope theme "Planet" are why the DAT Politics guys who founded Skipp wanted to be involved.
When I first heard The Beast I thought of Max Tundra, another one-man-band project who has evolved from his spazzy Tigerbeat6 days. Michel's music on The Beast doesn't have the thrill or unpredictability that Tundra brings, but Michel is tapping into a tradition that values a sense of control. The Beast isn't always exciting but it feels very complete, with that satisfying click of parts snapping into place.
