Kweller should stick to indie

Kweller tries on cowboy boots and falls flat on his face.

By Andrea Kszystyniak

Published Feb. 12, 2009

Ben Kweller has finally taken the route that all good Texan men are one day expected to take.

After the release of a myriad of well-received indie-pop albums, 27-year-old Kweller has returned to his country roots with his latest album, Changing Horses. This 10-track release is clearly Kweller's attempt to change his portrayal in the world of music, or to "change horses" and play the country game for a little while.

This album is well suited to most listeners, even those who abhor the country genre. The tracks, though more similar to Johnny Cash than Ben Folds, have the same flavor the album "Sha Sha" sported. Kweller's indie-pop style delicately invades what would otherwise be a rather boring country release. However, for the most part, the album lacks originality and resembles releases from artists such as Conor Oberst. It just sounds like Kweller really wanted to play around with a steel guitar. As a result, Kweller has created some sort of pseudo-country-indie-slow-core genre. He does not fully embrace the country genre, but instead dances around the edge, occasionally dipping his toes into twangy vocals and steel guitar.

He appears to draw more influence from Tom Petty and other folk rock greats than any well-known country artist. While these songs fit well together as a collection, an individual track selected from this album would be completely out of place on either one of his earlier albums.

Opening track "Gypsy Rose" is the stereotypical cheesy country love ballad, composed in mind-numbingly slow common time. It's essentially the same as the track "Lizzy" off of his first album Sha Sha, but with excessive and awkward sounding southern twang.

Kweller has said he began writing this collection of 10 tracks when he was 16. This is evident in some of his lyrical choices, particularly in songs like "Old Hat" where he says, "Never wanna be the old hat you put on your pretty head," over and over and over again.

Songs like "Fight" go way over the top, with far too many "yippees" and "yeehas." It seems to be that Kweller is trying to paint a caricature of a country musician as opposed to actually being one. In "Sawdust Man," Kweller tries to revive the Beatles circa the White Album in a song that rhythmically and musically resembles "Sexy Sadie" ripped apart and remade.

The same is true for "On Her Own." It had all the potential to be great if performed by any other hardened seventies country musician, but Kweller is simply not badass enough to pull it off.

Musically, a lot of things about this album are really good. "Ballad of Wendy Baker" is reminiscent of Kweller's previous endeavors, and this is why it succeeds. What Kweller does best is mellow indie-pop and this is what "Ballad" resembles. The song is slow and proceeds with purpose, demanding attention.

Ben Kweller is incredibly talented, but country music is simply not his thing. Every artist is allowed to experiment every once in a while, but it would be preferable if Kweller were to stick to indie-rock as opposed to dressing himself up in a cowboy hat and spurs to play what feels like half-assed country knock-offs.