- guardian.co.uk, Friday July 26 2002 14.40 BST
- The Guardian, Friday July 26 2002
At the age of 21, Ben Kweller has already abandoned a major-label band, Radish, to strike out on his own. But while his career path suggests a precociously mature musical sensibility, his debut solo album counters any such notion.
It opens jauntily: (How It Should Be) Sha Sha is a sherbet fizz of ba-ba-ba harmonies, skipping piano and adolescent attitude ("Don't bother me while I'm watching Planet of the Apes on TV"). But what follows is a mish-mash of sounds borrowed from just about every American powerpop band of the 1990s, with particular emphasis on Pavement's late albums. Indeed, there are times when this could actually be erstwhile Pavement frontman Steve Malkmus's solo album: it's in the jigsaw lyrics, huge chords, and the way Kweller's voice rises to a squawk on Wasted and Ready and Commerce, TX.
The bubblegum choruses and youthful exuberance make this a breezy listen, but the lack of individuality grates.
