Artist: Title: Label: Release Date: More Info:

Built to Spill You in Reverse Warner Bros. 2006 www.builttospill.com

Admittedly, I’ve seen Built to Spill perform several tunes from their new album, You in Reverse, over the past year and a half on tour.  So I first listened to the album with preconceived notions.  To my pleasant surprise, the songs I’d heard on the tour circuit (“Goin’ Against Your Mind,” “Traces,” “Liar,” and “Wherever You Go”) sound fresh and lively.  “Traces” has one of the most resonating guitar licks I’ve heard in many years, along with the great line “I know it’s hard for you to tell/where you end, and where the world begins.”

Built to Spill is one of the premier guitar-driven bands of our time, and You in Reverse only accentuates this fact. “Goin Against Your Mind” and “Conventional Wisdom” include not only exceptional guitar work by BTS frontman Doug Martsch, but excellent leads and fills and by Brett Nelson and Jim Roth.  “Wherever You Go” sounds like the second-coming of Neil Young and Crazyhorse.  But there are more contemplative tunes as well.  The album’s finale, “The Wait,” is a dreamy and wistful melody of what could have been—and what still could be. 

Favorite Track: Track 2, “Traces”

Click Here To Submit Your CD For Review