Artist: Parker Longbough
Album: Left on Tri
Label: Wilderhood Music
Release Date: 4/10/2018
It’s hard to imagine anyone with such blatant disregard for the accepted norms in songwriting (rhythm, tonality and pitch, harmony, melody, instrumentation and common themes such as love, loss, family, etc.) could have created an entire album of rock songs, but somehow Parker Longbough (real name Matthew Witthoeft) has done it, no mean feat. In fairness, the songs do rhyme, but that particular convention is often compromised by rhythmic twists like “You know I’m a fool for weddings/But you know it’s SoUpsetting [delivered as one one word) your tongue down his throat.”
Longbough alternates between pop, punk, spoken word and that guy who always shows up at open mic night, sometimes in the same song. He doubletracks himself, but not to provide harmony—it’s the same vocals, just a little late, or early, or off-key. On one track, I kept reaching for my phone, because one instrument is a ringtone. His themes are off-center: whether questioning Tom Clancy and bemoaning the shallowness of today’s action heroes in “Jack Ryan” or the slow ballad “The Catcher” about a manic, institutionalized friend and other damaged old pals, including the speaker. The topics are as bizarre as some late-1950s hits like “Alley Oop” (celebrating a caveman cartoon strip), but Longbough’s songs just aren’t supposed to be funny. Apparently he wrote much of this album holed up in a cabin in Alaska, which might explain a lot.
Uncharacteristically, I listened to this album for almost two hours, and kept wondering “What the hell is this guy doing?” and was continuously surprised when the first song came around again. “Already?” Here at Elmore, we like to focus on really good music in a variety genres, and while I’m not sure Left on Tri falls into our parameters, it’s worth experiencing. We may get some mail on this one, but if anybody figures it out, I’d love to know.
—Suzanne Cadgène
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