BUILT TO SPILL

One only needs to take a quick glance at Built to Spill singer Doug Martsch's receding hairline, craggy beard and rummage sale shorts to know that he is definitely not Teen Beat material. In fact, Martsch looks more like the kind of guy who might deliver your mail or unclog your backed up toilet, not invite you to the local bar to astound you with a metaphysical discussion of the unfathomable mysteries of our ever-evolving universe. Therein lies his, and the band's, indescribable and oft overlooked charm-- a seemingly average and unremarkable exterior shell peels away to reveal an incredibly earnest and profound thinking man's garage band. Touring in support of their critically acclaimed 8th album, Ancient Melodies of the Future, Built to Spill brought their trademark wall-of-guitar sound to a sold-out crowd at The Newport on September 9th. With almost a decade of playing behind them, the Boise, Idaho-based group culled heavily from some of their better efforts, including tracks from 1994's There's Nothing Wrong With Love and 1997's Perfect From Now On. Listening to a typical Built to Spill tune, live or recorded, is like taking a blindfolded test drive through a densely packed sonic landscape. If your idea of fine listening involves half-baked three-chord repetitiveness or silly teen-heartache lyrics, then you should definitely steer clear. Rarely will any of Martsch's songs return to the same port of origin, and, if they do, it is all but guaranteed you'll get hopelessly lost along the way. The show included incredible renditions of “Big Dipper” and “Twin Falls”, a pair of songs about mourning the loss of childhood simplicity. Also notable was “Untrustable / Part 2”, a ten-minute romp focusing on the false guises and walls we all surround ourselves with in our quests for acceptance. Just when things started to get a little too introspective, Built to Spill inexplicably closed the show with a cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd's “Freebird”-- and nailed it with such precision that the crowd almost took up Confederate flags. Any band that can pull that off deserves a listen.