I've been waiting for this record since Ken Stringfellow released his solo debut. As co-leaders of the Posies, Stringfellow and Jon Auer have made some of the most sublime power pop this side of 1990, so upon hearing one half of the band's braintrust on his own, I got curious as to what the other half sounded like. I had to wait a while-- and Stringfellow dropped two more records in the interim-- but Auer has finally obliged. Where Stringfellow took his albums as an opportunity to try out a little bit of country, a little bit of orch-pop, and some generalized eclecticism, Auer stays close to home on Songs From the Year of Our Demise, delicately crafting a melancholy, introspective album that feels like an extension of the Posies while simultaneously outclassing that band's two most recent records.
Part of what Songs makes clear is Auer's role in shaping some of the Posies' best old melodies-- his manner of constructing a tune is very distinctive, and harmonizing with himself rather than with Stringfellow's higher register highlights the inward-facing sadness in his writing. Here even a sweet sentiment like "you're all I want" comes qualified by "in this wicked world," and the darkness is doubly jarring delivered by his soft, sweetly melodic voice.
The primary failings of the album are minor-- it's a little too long and uniformly mid-tempo-- and it's difficult to argue with any of the material on its own terms. It sounds as if Auer might have been keeping aside some of his best stuff when making the last Big Star and Posies albums, in fact, and the quiet, acoustic "Wicked World" is the most haunting ballad he's been a part of since "You Avoid Parties" in 1990. The album's beautifully bleak aesthetic is established up front as the chiming glockenspiel/piano hook and purposeful rock beat of "Six Feet Under" heads to the "Bottom of the Bottle", an easily melodic song that essentially treats you to two great choruses. Auer is great at juxtaposing a rapid, syllable-stuffed line with a long, drawn-out phrase, and it helps make his songs memorable.
So it took him a long time to step out on his own, but Auer proves he was ready to do it. A few songs show some promising development of his personal arranging chops, such as "Four Letter Word," which shifts between contrasting start-stop and full-speed-ahead sections and "Adios", which features some striking vocal layering. Auer may have the lower profile of the two lead Posies, but he's every bit the artisan his bandmate is-- and his solo debut is ultimately a satisfying listen.
