Mike Fellows has symptoms of "sideman's disease." It strikes when you've spent too much time out of the spotlight. The leader of the band stands up front telling every man, woman and child in the room to squeeze his lemon; the sideman hangs back and makes sure his bass stays in tune. He helps load the t-shirts into the van, though his face is never on them. Someone has to sell the show, and someone has to keep it together.
Miighty Flashlight is Mike Fellows. Fellows played bass for seminal D.C. hardcore band Rites of Spring; he was one of the members who didn't later play in Fugazi. He's worked with such alt-country V.I.P.'s as Papa M, Will Oldham, and the Silver Jews. Now armed only with a couple guitars, a Powerbook, and his down-home vocals, Fellows has a solo project to record and tour with his own songs. His debut album is a short backyard barbecue, with high potential and mild impact.
Over his acoustic and electric guitars, Fellows gently adds samples with his Powerbook, managing to stray far from obvious or clumsy sounds. And only upon close inspection do you notice how extensively he uses these sounds-- for accents, ambience, or even the foundation of a tune, as with the catchy flute hook of "Ventilating Zephyrs," or the effects that gird the melody of "Hala Hanan Di Halida." The instrumental "Go On. Die. It's Easy" layers subtle sounds over the acoustic guitars, from a low buzzing drone to a drum machine fill that may be Miighty Flashlight's only cliché; on other tracks, the piano samples sound like they come from an upright sitting in Fellows' living room. And his vocals-- subdued, a little raw, and sometimes hard to interpret-- fit right in without knocking anything loose. He sings like the guy at a party who mutters, "Sure's been tough since the wife left." Like he wants you to know, but won't make a big deal of it.
Unfortunately, the perfect arrangements make the album a bit too subtle. It doesn't rock and it doesn't ache. "Ballet Skool" has grown on me, with its spare electric guitar line and its connotations of regrets and mistakes; but like most of the lyrics here, the words are cryptic and it's difficult to discern what Fellows is trying to say ("On top of ballet school / Don't let me be misdiagnosed"). And as for the three instrumentals, "Go On..." is more than enough; the other two, "Fatherland Focus" and "Forget This Space," are built on sub-John Fahey riffs that just coast by unconvincingly. These songs might be likeable and masterfully crafted, but they could use an extra kick to keep us interested.
