Dave House
Intersections
Banquet Records (2009)
why you'll like it: good melodies. humble lyrics
why you'll hate it: nothing new, too much filler
I just picked this album up on a whim a few weeks ago. Dave House shared a top 10 albums of the year list with punknews.org. I thought he had pretty good taste, so I decided to check out latest solo LP. It says in many descriptions that he is very much inspired by the storytelling style of songwriting found in bands like The Weakerthans. I'm not seeing so much of that in Intersections, but there is plenty of classic 90's pop-punk balladry to be had.
House sounds more like The Ataris or Joey Cape, which isn't a terrible thing, but surprising in that it masks his English background quite well. He doesn't appear to have much of an accent when singing, and the melodies are clearly American influenced. I don't know why I'm so hung up on this. A Western obsessed style is what got me so interested in Asian Kung-Fu Generation at first, and I love them now; so maybe it's a good thing.
I've never taken a look at any of House's previous work with other bands, so I'm left only with what is in front of me. It's an ok record. If you're still very much in love with that dying ballad pop-punk genre, you'll be all over this album. I ODed on this kind of music back in high school, so the whole thing is deja-vu to me. The catchiest songs have the unfortunate fate of being too repetitive. Good on Dave for putting something out there, though. I love music, but can't even tune a guitar.
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