Public Servant Lifestyle

Former Pavement member Scott Kannenberg hits all the right marks with his second solo long player Monsoon.

Monsoon and the Caught In The Rain EP, by Preston School of Industry

Former Pavement man Spiral Stairs (the man known as 'Scott Kannenberg' to his Mum) returns with his sophomore album, Monsoon, in many ways a truer record than his last, according to the man himself. “I think it definitely sounds more true to my sound than the last one.” He says. That ‘last one’ he’s referring to is 2001’s much-praised double LP All This Sounds Gas, the follow up to his Whalebones EP and the first real fruits of his post-Pavement output to gain anything like a wide audience.

“Like an off-kilter take on early REM – this is a good thing” – NME.

A fine follow up to All This Sounds Gas, Monsoon has a whole weight of expectations to live up to – Kannenberg’s solo debut made ‘LP of the week’ in both The Sunday Times and London’s Evening Standard newspaper.

More Personal

“It’s more personal this one” Scott continues, “I guess it has to do with moving on up to Seattle. It’s also a very political album. It’s commentary on the war, the kind of depressed world we live in nowadays post 9/11.”

“An original and gifted solo artist. Delicious nuggets of melody can always be found under the rock-weight distortion, yet his eclectic taste and love of oblique musical pathways ensure that one never feels too safe in his hands.” – The Fly.

Featuring all of the members of country rock band Wilco – perhaps best known in the UK for their collaboration with Billy Bragg on two volumes of - dust bowl balladeer - Woody Guthrie lyrics put to song – and Scott McCaughey, of the Minus 5s.

“Free from novelty pop song limitations and crafting a distinct and unique sound, lo-fi veteran Scott Kannenberg (AKA Pavement’s Spiral Stairs) unravels a fresh reel of country rock enthusiasm.” - Manchester Online.

Monsoon is not a million miles away from Scott’s first long-player as front man for the Preston School of Industry (PSOI), or that record’s precedent, the EP Whalebones. That said, the album is perhaps more introspective than that first outing. The songs do retain their radio-friendly qualities, however and in Walk Of A Gurl and Caught In The Rain, the Preston sound of country-tinged rock is well represented.

In some respects Monsoon marks a change for Scott Kanenberg, in that for this album he wrote almost entirely new material. With the PSOI debut All This Sounds Gas worked up older material, using ideas left over from his time in Pavement, but on this one, he started from scratch. The results are pretty much as fresh as you'd expect - and Scott's Wilco-led band take the sound into a definite country direction that could almost be a hi-fi Smog (if you ignore the obvious vocal differences between Scott and that band's Bill Callahan).

With slide guitars aplenty, pedal steel - and even mandolin parts which are pure Lindisfarne territory - the band maintains the suitably skewed pop sensibility for which Scott has always been known. At ten tracks and over 37 minutes, this latest offering from Kannenberg features a number of treats for the ears.

The full track listing looks like this:

1. The Furnace Sun
Smooth sounding opening track. Comes across almost like a (superior!) sort of World Party - with Kannenberg sounding uncannilly like their frontman Karl Wallinger at one point.

2. Walk Of A Gurl
Lyrically playful, catchy little number complete with ambiguous/wrong-footing sexuality: “..for a boy he was sure handsome”.

3. Caught In The Rain
Starts out all Out Of Time era-REM sounding, then leans towards the Cure end of the musical spectrum, before transmuting into 100% PSOI full of lush steel giutar sounds.

4. Line It Up
The opening Fall-like "what's up!" exclamation is never bettered on the rest of the track - which soon settles down - but is worth the price of admission alone.

5. So Many Ways
Pretty, sweeping country. Sounded grand on the recent UK live dates, sounds just as grand coming out of your speakers.

6. If The Straits Of Magellan Should Ever Run Dry

7. Her Estuary Twang
Taught, almost Velvet Underground style guitars and laid back sha la la vocals. Need we say more?

8. Escalation Breeds Escalation
Vocals and music clashing in this thoughtful track about the woes of the modern post 9/11 world. Scott sounding vocally more and more like Blue Aeroplanes frontman Gerard Langley, with a very 'Aeorplanes-ish sounding track to match it.

9. Get Your Crayons Out!

10. Tone It Down
More and more REM-ish, with a beautiful mandolin sounding part, vety much reminiscent of the REM/Billy Bragg cooperative track You Woke Up My Neighbourhood.

This is then a record not just for the Pavement - or even just for PSOI's own - fans, but for anyone wishing to hear a band at the top of its game. The playing is spot on throughout and the writing is to match. More than anything, Kannenberg shakes any kind of post-Pavement blues he might have been suggesting with his former long-player.

Anyone interested in other spin-offs from Pavement could do a lot worse than sample the band's former frontman - Steven Malkmus - solo recordings, with his band, The Jicks, which are also available, on Domino.

See also: All This Sounds Gas album review in The Michigan Daily newspaper (September 11, 2001).

For more information on Preston School of Industry, visit the band's official website: www.prestonschoolofindustry.com

Monsoon is available now – on CD and as a double vinyl album - as is the new Caught In The Rain EP. With the lead track taken from Monsoon, the EP also features four brand new tracks, including a cover of The Fall's Mere Psued Mag Ed. Both are on the Domino label.

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