Belonging to that same ‘I’m not going to open my mouth too much for fear of something ordinary falling out’ bronkin’ band of brothers as Mike Nesmith and Beck Hansen – Jay Farrar spits and drawls his way through a gritty 5 tracks of visceral alterna-country; inebriate but tuneful, incisive but happy.
Pitched somewhere between Neil Young and Bob Dylan, a deliriously psychedelic Mike Nesmith and with the awkward tenderness of a young Michael Stipe, ‘ThirdShiftGrottoSlack’ is four tracks of previously unreleased material by the former Uncle Tupelo/Son Volt leader that’s been a little cynically reintroduced with a spurious ‘Damn Shame Memphis remix’ – a track from Farrar’s marvellously well received ‘Sebastapol’ album that both binds and splinters this EP new release – if you get what I mean.
‘Station to Station’ is a smokey, upbeat obscurants dream with a melting, tender chorus whilst ‘Kind of Madness’ recalls the fabulously grotesque urbanism of the Monkees’ Head soundtrack with outtakes of Thunderclap Newman – heaps of cultural observations and smart-ass conceits.
Produced by Beck, Elliot Smith and Badly Drawn Boy engineer/producer, Tom Rothrock, ‘ThirdShiftGrottoSlack’ may seem a trifle over derivative at times, but it’s an ultimately worthwhile pursuit with some beautifully crafted moments.