Owen At Home With Owen   Label: Polyvinyl Records Release Date:11/05/2006

On that fateful rainy night in the year 2000, when my older sister’s boyfriend put on American Football while driving me to KFC, I fell in love with the music of Mike Kinsella. Since then, I’ve followed his musical career very closely, his departure from the technical jazzy indie rock of American Football and the cool math-rock of Owls, then the start of his solo project Owen. This act was formed as a result of his revelation that he didn’t need off-time signatures and overly technical guitar parts to write beautiful songs. That was a little over five years ago, and November 2006 finds him releasing his 4th full album under the moniker, a record that finds him with even simpler guitar parts, more mature vocals, and keener sense of good acoustic songwriting.

This album was recorded, like all of Mike’s albums, in his Mom’s house while she was asleep, and the music very much demonstrates an attempt to keep her dormant. His guitar parts are as delicate as a leaf in the wind and as specific as a painting; his voice so distinctly breathy and fragile, always slightly wavering in its gentleness. Though the guitar work may not be as technical as on his previous material, clearly more work was put into the small touches of background music (echoey piano lines, small electric guitar fill-ins, basic brushes of drums) that eloquently craft a perfect mood and truly make this album (see “Bad News,” “One of These Days”). Vocally, musically, and lyrically, At Home with Owen draws more strongly on Mike’s Red House Painters influence than ever before.

This is an album for hazy winter afternoons, great to fall asleep to and even better to wake up to, allowing you to rise in the same pleasant mental flog in which you were just dreaming. It’s my favorite Owen record, it’s the first one that has competed with American Football for my favorite Mike Kinsella release. The songs are gorgeous, and there’s even a cover of Velvet Underground’s “Femme Fatale” (not as good as the original, but still a nice tribute). With Grizzly Bear, Unwed Sailor, Johann Johannson, and now this all coming out so closely together, my winter is guaranteed to find me indoors under my covers, staring out the window at gray cloud-lit twilights for hours at a time.

Owen- Bad News