Illustration from patriotic postal cover titled "Poland Fights On!", 1944
The last we heard from Sean Padilla (aka the Cocker Spaniels), he was telling us how it felt to be "The Only Black Guy at the Indie-Rock Show" on his last album Withstand the Whatnot. That was 2004. But Padilla hasn't been slacking since then - his work on the new album Sometimes You've Got to Fight to Get a Bit of Peace has been ongoing since 2005, and the home-recorded songs tell the story of his life over the last half decade.
Sometimes You've Got to Fight... has all the things that I like about Padilla as an artist. His distinctive voice - a high, squeaky tenor - can be an issue at first, but I've grown to like it over time, and it certainly gives his songs their own flavor. The biggest draw for me with the Cocker Spaniels songs, though, is their mix of musical influences. Padilla openly acknowledges his debts to Stevie Wonder and Prince, but his music is a more complex mix of classic soul and modern indie-rock sounds. I particularly like the songs where these influences collide head-on, like the sex ballad "Practice Makes Perfect", where wobbly shoegaze guitars meet a slinky lovesexy melody. Over 18 songs and a full hour, Padilla goes from electronic funk ("Touch My Hair") to British-Invasion pop ("Take the L") to acoustic balladry ("Postcard from Exile"). All these approaches are captured with clean, poppy arrangements (including embellishments like horns, bells, and strings) that belie their home-recorded origins.
My big issue with the Cocker Spaniels continues to be with Padilla's intensely personal lyrics. His songs address specific episodes in his life in very literal terms, with an awkward earnestness that underscores his lack of maturity and undercuts his attempts at corny humor. We learn in unpleasantly graphic detail that Padilla has had issues with kidney stones ("Small Stone"), mooching off family members ("Help & Hassle"), and keeping jobs ("The Overeducated Underclass" and "Two Weeks' Notice"). Things become particularly awkward when he addresses a specific individual in intimate terms, whether he's chiding his under-achieving cousin in "Cousin Ben" or confessing platonic love for his little brother ("Postcard from Exile") and good friends ("Bromance on 29th" - that title alone sets my teeth on edge.)
Padilla's songs about girlfriends fare much better because they have some bite to offset the goopy, straightforward sentimentality. The five girl-centric songs on the album are my favorites, the best being the acerbic "Schadenfreude". It's uncharacteristically harsh for a Cocker Spaniels song, but this actually makes it more fun. David Lobel provides nice horn accents to a light-funk arrangement, and Padilla pulls off one of the album's biggest laughs with the line, "Don't you think it's a big unfair to bounce without a care just 'cause I hate Silverchair?" Touche, Sean! Sometimes You've Got to Fight... is available through the Cocker Spaniels website.
"Schadenfreude" by the Cocker Spaniels
2 comments:
Neat, thanks for the pointer.
After listening to a bunch of songs on the website, I'm a little conflicted. His voice is on the whiny side, the production (understandably) is thin-sounding (GBV, whose philosophy he takes as a touchstone, were super lo-fi, but there was always muscle sticking to those ribs), and the very personal and intensely earnest lyrics can be a little hard to take (I'm reminded a little of a songwriter who's very different in other respects, Daniel Johnston). But man, those tunes really stick in my head.
He has the potential to be really awesome rather than really neat, but I'd like to see him work together with other musicians. (Really? He can't find anyone in Austin capable of playing his music? It's interesting, but it's not Frank Zappa.)
I'm not sure Sean's that interested in performing as part of a traditional band. Maybe he is - I can't really speak for him, but I have a soft spot for the home-recording one-man bands, so I'm okay with him following his own personal muse without getting others involved if that's how he wants to play it.
On the other hand, if he had a band to play with, maybe he's release a record more often than twice a decade.
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