Album Review: Jakob Dylan - Seeing Things (2008)

Jakob Dylan - Seeing Things (2008)

It’s really not a question of whether or not the world should care about the Wallflowers, it’s more a question of does the world care, which, of course, it doesn’t, or at least not enough. Jakob Dylan’s primary vehicle has long been one of the most consistent yet underrated acts to emerge from the 90s alternative movement. While they helped to bridge the gap between roots rock revival, neo folk rock, and alt-country, they usually played second fiddle to the Counting Crows, which is arguably a bss aackward situation. Regardless, the Wallflowers assembled a signature body of work including the 90s classic Bringing Down The Horse (1996) and their introspective masterpiece (Breach) (2000). Even as their fan base gradually disappeared, each successive album was greeted with critical praise and enthusiasm, as if to justify their existence in a world that must have forgotten the truly excellent craftsmanship of Dylan. So why now, twelve years after the Wallflowers’ heyday and three quiet years after the bands last album, has Jakob Dylan decided to go solo? He was always the solitary songwriter in the Wallflowers, so why the difference, and will it really be different? All in all, it’s obvious that something had to change, and the difference is remarkably lucid, even though it’s the work of the same pen. From the deep organic murmur of the opening “Evil Is Alive And Well,” it’s clear that everything has been stripped away on Seeing Things. Gone are the driving layers of Tom Pettyisms that propelled Wallflowers songs; instead, the songs are laid bare to sparse acoustics, similar to the past only in their lyrical tapestries. Interestingly enough, the songs feel natural, they actually work, and they resonate with the listener. It’s an album that can stand up to anything by the Wallflowers, yet it can exist as its own entity just as well, which is quite a feat. Lyrically, the album is a logical progression from the political rush of the last Wallflowers offering, 2005’s Rebel, Sweetheart, particularly in the exceptional “Will It Grow” and “War Is Kind.” But while Rebel depicted the state of Americana as a bewildering cemetery of lost dreams and no direction, Seeing Things finds hope in the little things of everyday life and suggests “Something Good This Way Comes.” By the time the curtains fade on “This End Of The Telescope,” it’s clear to the listener that Dylan is still very much a voice of relevance, with or without his band. The funny thing about all of this, however, is that Seeing Things seems to be getting much more airplay that anything the Wallflowers have produced in a decade, primarily through the Starbucks radio (but hell, whatever works)! Maybe that’s the reason for the change: people will listen to Starbucks music, but this album deserves it anyway. In the end, Dylan has given his craft a new appearance, and it seems to be working, which now begs the question, what’s next, and what’s next for the Wallflowers?

4/5

"Mother war is kind/Like hell, but I am fine"

S. McSmoke-Smoke