Sean Bonette and Ben Gallaty are busy guys. The duo, who perform under the name Andrew Jackson Jihad, both have day jobs in their home town of Phoenix, Arizona, spent a good portion of this summer touring the United States and have just released their tenth studio recording in less than seven* years, Can't Maintain. Previously relying almost completely on the pairs acoustic guitar and upright bass, Can't Maintain finds the band expanding their sound, from going electric on the first track, "Heartilation," to adding strings and horns, making their sound alot more on the "indie folk" side of things than the "folk punk" we're used to hearing from the fellows.
The Neutral Milk Hotel influence that the band has always had but I never heard before is audible on a vast portion of the cd, from the horn section in "Love Will Fuck Us Apart" to "Truckers Are The Blood," which starts out sounding incredibly similar to the band's recent cover of "Two Headed Boy." Can't Maintain finds the band at their strangest ("Kazoo Sonata in C Major" is exactly what the track would lead you to believe.) and their most darkly optimistic . "I have seen the darkest heart of humanity," Bonette sings on You Don't Deserve Yourself before insisting "But I believe we are capable of good as well."
Andrew Jackson Jihad - Love In The Time of The Human Papilloma Virus
The stand out third track, "Love In The Time of The Human Papilloma Virus," is surprisingly tender and beautiful. Featuring a string section and abstractly loving lyrics ("My heart, it has eyes and my love, it has sight even though it might be a little cloudy."), "Love In The Time of the Human Papilloma Virus" is quickly becoming one of my favorite tracks of the summer and is certainly one of my favorite tunes that Bonette has ever written. The girl Sean's singing to may or may not love him but regardless, he still cares for her and he'll persevere. In fact, all of the more ballad-esque songs on the album are incredibly beautiful, especially when contrasted to Andrew Jackson Jihad's back catalog. "Love Will Fuck Us Apart" finds a more mature Bonette than we've heard previously and my favorite track off of the band's recent Operation Stackola EP, "Sense, Sensibility," is rerecorded here and remains just as wonderful if not more so with the addition of a swell whistling solo.
The CD isn't long by any means. It's 13 songs clock in at just under 30 minutes but seeing as Andrew Jackson Jihad's releases usually clock in at a significantly less time and their full lengths tend to feature no more than 10 songs, Can't Maintain seems to drag at times. Perhaps it's simply because I'm so used to Andrew Jackson Jihad releases to hit hard and be over quick but there are a few tracks here that don't seem like they belong - The aforementioned "Kazoo Sonata in C Major" and "You Don't Deserve Yourself" are two I could do without, particularly the latter as I'm just not a fan of saxophones. The great tracks - And even the good tracks - more than make up for those two however. "Can't Maintain" is a milestone in Andrew Jackson Jihad's discography. The band's delivered solid albums before (People Who Eat People Are The Luckiest People is a perfect example of this) but they've never delivered a solid, mature album. If this is what growing up sounds like, I'll be happy to reach a more mature state of consciousness.
Can't Maintain is out next month on Asian Man Records. Also, check out out recent interview with Andrew Jackson Jihad.
The stand out third track, "Love In The Time of The Human Papilloma Virus," is surprisingly tender and beautiful..GooD luck
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