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Ken Stringfellow
SOFT COMMANDS
(Yep Roc)
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Because it was written and recorded in such far-flung locales as Seattle, Paris, Hollywood, and Stockholm, you’d expect Ken Stringfellow’s latest to be all over the stylistic map. Yet with few exceptions, the third full-length solo album from the co-founder of ’90s power-pop band the Posies hews to a luscious, piano-based sound. Dig beneath the shimmering surfaces, however, and you’ll discover songs that blend sentiment with ambiguity — meaning this isn’t the easy-listening disc it might seem. Set to a lilting melody that belies the bleakly lit chambers within, opener "You Drew" finds a protagonist hobbled by his ex, who "drew the poison from me/Picked me off the bayonet tree/Pulled me like a snaggled little tooth." "For Your Sake" is a litany of "if" — "If you gorge yourself/If you’re greedy all the time/If you’re grinding to a halt" — that resolves with a compassionate "I’ll come around." Sounding like a lost Brian Wilson classic, "When U Find Someone" is a wry ditty about co-dependent love between an oligarchic leader and his clueless constituency. Arch but not overly clever, Soft Commands is impure pop for now people.
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