When Built To Spill wanted to find out what their music sounded like they locked themselves in Doug Martsch's garage. Without a tentative conclusion or even a hypothesis the four members began to experiment. Their collaborative efforts lasted seasons and yielded dozens of hours of ADAT tape. The album, You In Reverse documents the newest branch of Built To Spill's chaotic, yet elegant evolution.
"Sonically," Doug says, "We wanted it to sound like classic rock or soul...a piece of vinyl." Both Steve and engineer Jacob Hall are audiophiles who love old records and are into "those sorts of sounds." They used analog recording equipment and spent hours listening back to tracks for the smallest nuances. Steve (a member of Faust) also played space echo, guitar, vibes, and percussion on the record. He understood the songs and their parameters, making specific and well-considered contributions.
Other guest musicians include Quasi's Sam Coomes on organ and longtime Built To Spill contributor Brett Netson on guitar. Partway through the making of this record, Netson officially joined Built To Spill as their fifth member and played guitar on three of the songs. His mind-melting solo on "Just A Habit" will remind longtime Built To Spill listeners of the amazing lead guitar tracks he laid down for Perfect From Now On... and sure does sound a lot like Neil Young to me. Have a listen:
MP3: Just A Habit
The album comes out April 11th - go buy it if you like this track (the whole album is super) and help support good music.
