Built To Spill - Built To Spill Plays The Music Of Daniel Johnston (Album Review)

 

Built To Spill - Built To Spill Plays The Music Of Daniel Johnston

(2020)

My copy: 2020 limited press on clear vinyl with yellow and blue splatter by Ernest Jenning Record Co.

Daniel Johnston was a deeply creative musician who suffered from serious mental health concerns, making him an icon of “outsider music.” In spite of his struggles with mental illness, Johnston was a talented writer who released dozens of simple songs that could be challenging due to the often lo-fi, amateur or honest nature of the recordings and words. Some later Johnston albums would feature backing bands and higher quality production with Johnston still doing most of the writing. In 2017, indie legends Built To Spill were asked to play as a backing band for Johnston; they decided to release these recordings of practice sessions following the passing of Johnston in 2019.

Unfortunately, there really isn’t much to say about Built To Spill Plays The Music Of Daniel Johnston as the record was probably recorded completely live with very little variation in sound or production. Fan favorites like “Honey I Sure Miss You” or “Queenie The Dog” appear and it is interesting hearing Johnston’s words pass through the voice of Doug Marstch, who clearly has a reverence for the songs. The issue is how tonally bland the recordings are. 

There are two philosophies when dissecting a record like this: one is that Johnston requested simple, to the point renditions of the songs or the band themselves strayed from variation so as to not steal the spotlight from the lyrics. The other, less flattering assumption is that there wasn’t a whole lot of thought, time or care put into the actual process of working through the songs. The real answer is likely closer to the first scenario, as surely Martsch wanted to keep the tracks simple and true to their original form. Sadly, playing these songs straight makes for a pretty boring album, especially without Johnston’s eccentric vocal personality. 

Only a couple of songs actually vary the guitar tones, with “Queenie The Dog” indulging in some fun noise-making while “Fake Records Of Rock And Roll” amps things up with heated distortion and a powerful typhoon of tremolo at the end. The rest of the record blends together into an uninteresting soup that is only saved by the assumption that the listener has already heard these songs and will be excited to hear them in a slightly different context. 

Do not buy this album unless you are a Daniel Johnston mega fan looking for anything related to him. Listen to the original renditions of these songs as they are all obviously more inspired. This record is not a particularly interesting take on Johnston’s music nor is it a particularly interesting Built To Spill record.