Album Review: Bob Desper's New Sound ...
Eric Shapiro - NY Press/City Arts 8-17-2010
Loner folkie Bob Desper is one of those musicians whose small, insular body of work lends itself to obsessive listening by a select few kindred spirits and apathy from everyone else. Nevertheless, even by the standards of cult artists, he was a nobody. After releasing New Sounds in 1974 to little notice, he dropped off the face of the Earth. Without the Internet, he probably would have remained in obscurity.
Luckily, collectors and music enthusiasts from the far-flung corners of the web were able to generate enough interest in the album to merit a reissue. Now he’s got a review up on Pitchforkand a growing fan base clamoring for new material. Rumors of Desper’s death proved greatly exaggerated; although he can no longer play guitar due to a hand injury, he ended his long hiatus when he played a show in June.
Desper’s story may partially account for his resurrection. Born July 1, 1950 in Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, Desper moved to Washington in 1963 before finally settling in Oregon two years later. At age 10, he lost his vision when he hit his head on a pole while roughhousing with a friend. He learned guitar nonetheless, playing in a string of bands before launching his short-lived solo career with the 1972 release of the single “Dry Up Those Tears” b/w “The World Is Crying Out For Love,” which Desper called a "little fun thing that didn't work too good."
His first and only LP, New Sounds, is anything but fun, which is not to say it isn’t compelling in its own distinctively morbid and depressing way. References to loneliness, darkness and death abound, even when the music itself is happy.
New Sounds is the ramblings of a man stranded in darkness, literal and metaphorical, whose only comfort stems from resignation and passive hope that a change in circumstance or some outside force will bring an end to suffering. He frequently presents religion as a source of comfort, but it comes across instead as rather hollow, an artificial form of contentment, with joy perpetually on the horizon but never present.
In isolation, Desper's lyrics are rather pedestrian. All too often, he falls back on stale metaphors and clichés. Life is like a highway and darkness covers the land. What else is new? Nevertheless, Desper compensates with a strong delivery. His emotional guitar playing transitions from fluttery finger picking to strident strumming at the appropriate times and his voice reverberates like a preacher’s. These two elements combine to lend New Sounds a profundity that its lyrics alone would not merit.
Many a wounded romantic has picked up a guitar and vented their sorrows in the form of music. But few do it as well as Bob Desper. He is able to convey a greater range of deep emotions with his voice and his guitar on one album than many artists do in their entire careers. It is to his credit that expressiveness never comes at the expense of tight songwriting. His guitar playing and melodies are first rate and make New Soundsworth listening to even if you have no interest in his lyrics or his opinions. And that is more than can be said for most other purveyors of gloomy folk music.
Loner folkie Bob Desper is one of those musicians whose small, insular body of work lends itself to obsessive listening by a select few kindred spirits and apathy from everyone else. Nevertheless, even by the standards of cult artists, he was a nobody. After releasing New Sounds in 1974 to little notice, he dropped off the face of the Earth. Without the Internet, he probably would have remained in obscurity.
Luckily, collectors and music enthusiasts from the far-flung corners of the web were able to generate enough interest in the album to merit a reissue. Now he’s got a review up on Pitchforkand a growing fan base clamoring for new material. Rumors of Desper’s death proved greatly exaggerated; although he can no longer play guitar due to a hand injury, he ended his long hiatus when he played a show in June.
Desper’s story may partially account for his resurrection. Born July 1, 1950 in Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, Desper moved to Washington in 1963 before finally settling in Oregon two years later. At age 10, he lost his vision when he hit his head on a pole while roughhousing with a friend. He learned guitar nonetheless, playing in a string of bands before launching his short-lived solo career with the 1972 release of the single “Dry Up Those Tears” b/w “The World Is Crying Out For Love,” which Desper called a "little fun thing that didn't work too good."
His first and only LP, New Sounds, is anything but fun, which is not to say it isn’t compelling in its own distinctively morbid and depressing way. References to loneliness, darkness and death abound, even when the music itself is happy.
New Sounds is the ramblings of a man stranded in darkness, literal and metaphorical, whose only comfort stems from resignation and passive hope that a change in circumstance or some outside force will bring an end to suffering. He frequently presents religion as a source of comfort, but it comes across instead as rather hollow, an artificial form of contentment, with joy perpetually on the horizon but never present.
In isolation, Desper's lyrics are rather pedestrian. All too often, he falls back on stale metaphors and clichés. Life is like a highway and darkness covers the land. What else is new? Nevertheless, Desper compensates with a strong delivery. His emotional guitar playing transitions from fluttery finger picking to strident strumming at the appropriate times and his voice reverberates like a preacher’s. These two elements combine to lend New Sounds a profundity that its lyrics alone would not merit.
Many a wounded romantic has picked up a guitar and vented their sorrows in the form of music. But few do it as well as Bob Desper. He is able to convey a greater range of deep emotions with his voice and his guitar on one album than many artists do in their entire careers. It is to his credit that expressiveness never comes at the expense of tight songwriting. His guitar playing and melodies are first rate and make New Soundsworth listening to even if you have no interest in his lyrics or his opinions. And that is more than can be said for most other purveyors of gloomy folk music.