It had seemed as if the story of Built to Spill was already more or less written: Indie pop band forgoes simple, summery perfection of early work to craft epic, melodic guitar-rock. From 1996's Perfect From Now On through 2001's Ancient Melodies of the Future, Built to Spill records served as a reliable platform for Doug Martsch's plaintive and layered songwriting, brought to life by a band whose talent and proficiency at times seemed boundless. You in Reverse marks the first steps of an unexpected third chapter in the group's saga, casting off the usual meticulous guitar overdubs and studio polish in favor of a less refined, more spontaneous approach.
While the results are spotty, the change itself is welcome. Ancient Melodies of the Future was short on inspiration but flawlessly executed; tracks like "You Are" showed that the band could still make good on a paucity of musical ideas. By contrast, they sound downright energized on You in Reverse. The first Built to Spill album in a decade not to feature Phil Ek's crystalline production, You in Reverse wastes no time in establishing itself as its own distinct entity within the band's catalog: As the album begins, drummer Scott Plouf lays down an urgent backbeat that immediately blasts away the band's recent complacency, establishing opener "Goin' Against Your Mind" as one of their most insistent and muscular songs.
That same spirit is evident on "Conventional Wisdom", which evokes the best of 1999's Keep It Like a Secret by pairing an explosive guitar hook with a characteristically strong Martsch vocal melody. While Ek might have pushed "Conventional Wisdom" toward restrained transcendence, here it conveys an unchecked exuberance that hasn't graced a Built to Spill record since There's Nothing Wrong With Love. Or at least, it does so for about two minutes, at which point Martsch stops singing and a totally unnecessary four-minute guitar jam ensues.
Long songs are by no means new for Built to Spill but You in Reverse suffers from a lack of structure that leaves much of it sounding indulgent and extraneous. The longer songs on the classic Perfect From Now On invariably included a few grand but unobtrusive structural changes, as well as subtle shifts in dymanics and feel-- "Velvet Waltz", with its layers of shimmering guitar and reverberating percussion, seems downright economical at eight minutes. Most of the songs on You in Reverse start at full-blast, and the band often seems to have trouble figuring out where to go from there-- when the chorus rolls around at minute five of "Wherever You Go", not much has changed since the chorus three minutes prior.
Aside from its abundance of overlong songs, You in Reverse is marred by a lack of strong melody when compared to Built to Spill's other records; aside from "Conventional Wisdom", nothing on You in Reverse approaches the seamless melodic dexterity of the band's best work. And yet this is also their most promising statement in years; far from the lovely stagnation of Ancient Melodies, You in Reverse suffers from the awkwardness of new beginnings.
