Shane Bartell -《Too Soon to Say》(Too Soon to Say)

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Artist Shane Bartell
Album Title Too Soon to Say
Date of Release 2004
Styles Chamber Pop, Indie Rock
Labels lilywhite records


I imagine women everywhere would like to thank Shane Bartell for giving them something to listen to as they gaze out rain-drenched windows with a box of Kleenex in their lap and their cats rubbing against their legs, wondering why?… why?… WHY won’t he call?

Too Soon to Say is the first full-length album from the Austin scene veteran. Such a pedigree comes with high expectations, and Bartell lives up to them by delivering 10 heartfelt tracks in which his talent is clearly self-evident. He melds power and beauty in ways many artists only dream of in songs that piece together the orchestral production of Sondre Lerche with the darker and moodier ambience of Belle & Sebastian. Likewise, his voice amalgamates the same dynamics, allowing him to carry a powerful chorus and hint at the subtle nuances of emotion in a verse with ease.

However, it’s the songs that all too often get in the way of what could be a truly great album. Things start off well enough with the mid-tempo “Another New Year,” soaked in organ and dripping with careful piano accents. But it’s followed by the mid-tempo “Crashlanding,” soaked in piano and dripping with strings. And then the mid-tempo “At Any Moment,” soaked in various instruments and dripping with pedal steel guitar (I think you get the idea). It’s just far too easy to lose the point of each song in the thick production soup that accompanies it. For comparison, that was the beauty of Sondre’s Faces Down: each song had its own identity and a level of rawness that matched the emotions of its writer. Sadly, all of Bartell’s songs feel like one big fat generic emotion.

However, at the eleventh hour he delivers a knockout. “Almost Perfect,” the appropriately-named final track, is the rare nine-minute epic masterpiece that is instantly likeable and demands an immediate repeat listen. It is an emphatic exclamation point at the end of a confusing sentence, but it makes me want to listen to everything else again, over and over, until I can find the hidden meaning that warranted such profound punctuation.

I’m not saying Too Soon to Say is a hit or miss album… it’s all hit. But the hit is really a dull blow, padded by a thick sonic blanket and lack of variety. It’s a frustrating listen because Bartell’s talent is so obvious - I want to really, really like this album. But his songs are too often battlegrounds where the strings are pulling left, the guitars are heading right, and the vocals are treading water. A listener just plain feels lost – except that glorious final track, in which everything and everyone is finally charging straight ahead.

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1 Another New Year
2 Crashlanding
3 At Any Moment
4 Don't Believe Everything
5 There Were Times
6 No Title
7 Long and Short (I)
8 Stars Burn Out (II)
9 Beginning to Believe
10 Goodbye
11 Almost Perfect