The Declaration of Independence collaged from cereal, candy and other boxes. 

Morris County Library, NJ. March 2012.

Here are some random lyrics from Lee Ranaldo’s first song-based release — and I’m not making them up:

I just saw a rainbow fall into the floor

shattered into the pieces and your eyes ask what for …

Ranaldo’s voice was usually a welcome foil to Moore and Gordon, so my hopes were pretty high on this one. It’s got Alan Licht, John Medeski, Jim O’Rourke doodling, as well. As it turns out, Lee’s vocals work best when he surfs atop turbulent, swirling noise - and they work even better when we don’t know what hell he’s talking about. 

It’s not just the saccharine lyrics. Musically speaking, the best description I could think of for BTTATT is, I don’t know, Wilco-ish soft-rock retroism – and I mean that in the worst possible sense.

For a brief moment, I was rooting for one of those ironic SY deals: maybe the glam of Goo or the Madonna adoration or other stuff that’s above my own meager sophistication. Maybe I just don’t get it. But, alas, I suspect he’s earnest, which makes it all the more unlistenable.

To recap:

If a cloud is in your eye

I will remove it from the sky

(Ranaldo’s drone/lofi albums are a lot more … well, listenable would be the wrong word … but definitely more fun, if you’re into that sort of thing.)