Preston School of Industry

All of This Sounds Gas

Matador Records

Spiral Stairs’ Preston School of Industry unapologetically offers listeners a pastiche of sound then leaves them to figure it all out. Stairs, who had previously been a band member of Steven Malkmus in Pavement, seems unable, and unwilling, to define himself by genre, instead grabbing from here and there until his final product can’t be labeled.

That’s bad for critics; it’s great for his new band’s first album, All of This Sounds Gas. Stairs’ songs combine country and reverb, soft guitars and feedback. Stairs unwillingness to lash his band together by traditional means leaves of collection of songs that could have been recorded by BR-549, Depeche Mode, or Tripping Daisy.

While Pavement was roundly praised for its pop sound, or at least, its straight out of the garage pop sound, Preston’s accomplishment is its polished indifference towards conventional definition. Stairs (real name, Scott Kannberg) album is also different in another way: he has truly created an album that is more emotive musically than lyrically. Too often, artists bog down their albums with trite vocals meant, presumably, to change our lives; Stairs doesn’t seem to care his sung words at all, letting his music tell the story while his nonsensical lyrics fade into the background.

That said, some of his strangely titled songs are simply amazing. “monkey heart and the horses’ leg” is unbelievable, using an ebbing and flowing guitar lick to vaguely reference the constant change of life. With almost indecipherable lyrics (the sheet in the album presents all lyrics in single, unpunctuated paragraphs, furthering the idea that Stairs could really care less about them), “monkey heart” is a simple guitar ballad, electrified. And Stairs subtle mix of cello on the flows on “monkey,” the points of the song at which the music is most emotive, is inspired. No song more grabs the listener’s attention than does this “monkey heart.”

Of course, for as simple and beautiful as the ninth track is, the third track is country as country can be. On “a treasure @ silver bank (this dynasty’s for real)” a steel guitar, a cowbell in the distant background, choir like background vocals, and a simple guitar riff is all Stairs needs to sing of his missed home. In fact, none of the lyrics come together save the most audible ones “I’m stuck here, looking straight back at home.” The rest of his vocals are muddled and confused, hastily delivered and blending together like crayons colors that become brown when combined. When he starkly speaks of his home, he is clear and crisp. He doesn’t want you to hear brown; he wants you to hear his nostalgia.

There are other standouts as well. “Solitaire” is all over the map. Sounding like a single from the one-hit wonder “Tripping Daisy,” Stairs’ total randomness on the song – 50’s background singing and ska horns? – musically, and his barely delivered lyrics somehow come together at the end of the song to make the listener appreciative. At more than seven minutes, “encyclopedic knowledge of” is Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers with more reverb.

The greatest danger of Preston’s style is the possibility that Stairs’ stew of style will get too out there, too messed up, too convoluted. It gets close. All of This Sounds Gas frequently sounds like a project where Kannberg and some friends came together to make an album for themselves, like they explored some of the themes that interested them and happened to record it for commercial release. That was a fortunate decision for us. The decidedly off-beat impression left by the album blends perfectly with its decidedly polished exploration of influence.

Stairs might not care what listeners think, but if he keeps releasing albums as steeped in explorative quality as “All of This” is, he won’t have to worry about us anyway. They’ll be satisfied.