To say that singer Ryan Dahle has spent a significant portion of his career immersed in a series of unfortunate events betrays a gift for understatement. To begin with, the singer/guitarist's first project that drew significant notice, Age Of Electric, imploded under the weight of co-founder Todd Kerns' ego. Then his celebrated side-project-turned-main-squeeze, Limblifter, was derailed by Dahle's brother (and Limblifter drummer) Kurt's shenanigans. At every turn, Ryan Dahle has encountered another significant obstacle in the way between him and success; it has to have been terribly frustrating.
It may have taken a while but, finally deciding that hell is other people, Ryan Dahle has finally elected to go solo and reign in the chaos on Irrational Anthems.
Instantly noticeable is how much happier he sounds; left to his own devices (former Salteen Megan Bradfield does lend a hand on bass, clarinet and cello though), Dahle strips the alt-rock angst from his voice and lyrics and chooses instead to explore the possibilities that having no real sounding board to veto ideas can afford. Songs like “Chop Chop,” “Windmilling,” “Shutdown” and “Agoraphobe” all take great glee in throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks; ignoring minor keys and distorted rhythm guitars, Dahle takes a cue from Lou Barlow and constructs fantastic Sebadoh-esque sound assemblages (not unlike what Barlow did on The Freed Man, but with the benefit of of the clarity that updated technology affords) to mount more carefree vocal styling upon and the results about to a more genuine, upbeat and contented affair than anything the singer has attempted previously. It's a really gratifying change of pace in the singer for listeners – no more 'woe is me' sighing or 'I screwed up' laments – and he's obviously relishing in th freedom of expression that one gets the impression he's never had before.
That does not, however, mean that he takes it for granted. Each of Irrational Anthems' dozen tracks stick close to pop song, verse-chorus-verse structures and avoid the occasional hobbling that many Limblifter songs suffered from. It that way, it's sort of ironic that Dahle decided to call this record 'Irrational Anthems' because, outside of the odd bit of 'tuning in from the other side of the corn field' production weirdness (I had to listen to “Shutdown” and “Sixes And Sevens” a couple of times to decide if some of the effects and hard, abrupt pans used weren't glitches in th manufacture of the CD), this record is probably the most sane and emotionally centered release of Dahle's career.
In the same moment that realization takes hold and listeners begin to give in to the beauty of the songs, one has to wonder what the next step will be. Of course, everyone involved with the band could take total leave of their senses and reconvene Age Of Electric and Limblifter is Dahle's project to restart as he chooses, so the question becomes whether or not Irrational Anthems will be the first step in a new path for Ryan Dahle, or simply a passing fancy that the singer needed to expunge before entering one of his older vehicles. Listeners can hope that the change is permanent though – it's taken almost two decades, but Ryan Dahle has finally discovered that, if you want something done right, you're best served to do it yourself. It has worked marvelously here.
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Download:
“Chop Chop” from Irrational Anthems by Ryan Dahle
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Irrational Anthems will be available as a Canadian import through Sandbag/Fontana North on August 25, 2009. Pre-order it here on Amazon .
