Tim Presley comes from a growing faction of hard-working throwback rock'n'roll artists who share both a love of vaguely garage and punk music but also display a pertinacious work ethic. Seemingly dissatisfied with the "one album every 18 months" approach of some of his peers, Presley serves as frontman for neo-psych group Darker My Love, guitarist for garage-poppers the Strange Boys, and still found time to release the self-titled debut of his solo project, White Fence, late last year.
All in all, White Fence played like many solo bows: It was a solid-but-sometimes-unfocused tour through the artist's mental Rolodex of influences and flights of fancy. In Presley's case that happens to be the sort of 1960s and 70s folk-rock that emits a vapor trail of psychedelia behind it. Is Growing Faith, the second White Fence album in under a year, finds Presley trimming the fat and applying stringent focus on improving as a songwriter without discarding his dealer's phone number.
While songs like lead single "Lillian (Won't You Play Drums)", "Sticky Fruitman Has Faith", and "And By Always" continue Presley's attachment to bright guitar lines and delightfully meandering guitar solos, Is Growing Faith also finds him in a more exploratory mood. "Stranger Things Have Happened (To You)" sneaks a little country twang into the template, while the laconic, bouncy "Your Last Friend Alive" leads into a jangly riff that quickly turns into the lead on cacophonous surf-rock tune "Enthusiasm". Tracks such as those help this record feel like a more thought-out work rather than a cobbled-together collection.
The most drastic left-turn is "The Mexican Twins/Life is... Too $hort", on which Presley trades his psych influence for hip-hop. The first half of the song is a bizarre, keyboard-driven spoken word track, complete with Presley's voice being pitch-shifted to sound eerily similar to Madlib alter-ego Quasimoto; the latter-- named for the classic Bay Area rap album-- mercifully pulls in the reins musically. Presley's greatest successes come from putting away the drums, sitting an acoustic guitar on his lap, and showcasing his gratifyingly woozy voice. "Tumble, Lies & Honesty" finds him double-tracking his vocals and harmonizing with himself while a wobbly keyboard line sends the humble optimism of the song's lyrics to near-soaring heights.
With all the psychedelic instrumental flourishes on Is Growing Faith, closer "When There is No Crowd" follows the advice of its title and is presented completely unadorned. Featuring just Presley's voice and a guitar, the song features some of the strongest songwriting on the album, with an earworm of a melody and lyrics that combine laid-back nostalgia, uncomplicated romance, stream-of-consciousness imagery, and even a little advice: "You might go to college, and you might go to school/ And you may find religion, but don't be nobody's fool." Ultimately, "When There Is No Crowd" is the most appropriate way to end the record, with the image of Presley seated alone and hunched over a tape recorder, sounding more truly comfortable for the first time in his career. Even with all of the bands he punches the time card for, it's starting to become very clear that, with Is Growing Faith, his solo efforts are the ones that reap the most rewards.
