Hejira Not Joni Mitchell

Overall Album Score: 7.1 out of 10

I meant to be reviewing Joni Mitchell’s Hejira, but due to the fact that I was heavily sedated by Benedryl when I added Hejira to my listening queue on Rhapsody, I didn’t realize that I was actually listening to the band Hejira (who released this eponymous album). Anyway, that’s the only reason why this freaked me out. I thought Joni Mitchell’s voice turned into guy in 1976, but … I was listening to the wrong album.

Anyway, here I am … reviewing this band … that nobody heard of. It’s not the first time I did this, you know! … I like to review unknown bands just to see if they’re any good! Most of the time, however, they turn out to be like this. Averagely good.

They’re indie-art rockers … some people might choose to call them “shoegazers.” Though, I’m not sure if I like that name, because it makes them sound like they have a sexual fetish for shoes, but … whatever. Anyway, this is certainly an Indie-band that’s into the artsy side of things … They’re not American Idol contestants!

And … um … some of these songs are really nice. They’re all very intricate and layered with sound. They probably reach their apex of that with the first song on here “Lofty Towers,” which is pretty entertaining as far as too-lengthy dreary songs go. “Barbed Wire Trails” is nearly an excellent song if not for the weak chorus. Most of the following songs don’t manage to really top those … and those songs weren’t *great* to begin with. Well, wait! There is one very brief song in the last half of the album! … It’s “Butcherblock!” … That song such a sweet and understated ditty … I seriously wish they would’ve exploited *that* vein instead of the dreary, depressing vein, but … whatever.

Overall Album Score: 7.1 out of 10 (…Well, it’s not bad … Perhaps there wasn’t enough concentration on melody and making this more enjoyable to the listener.)

Average Song Score: 7.2 (There are a few moments of understated beauty in this … but not enough to make this worth the duller moments.)

Album Tilt: 7.0 (It works much better if you’re listening to it passively … That’s not what makes good music, unfortunately.)

Artist Rating: 7.0 (Well, they’re “Shoegazers” … not an American Idol contestant. This was music meant for the art … whether it did that successfully was … well …)

Track Reviews

Lofty Towers 8.5/10

Very slow, very lethargic, very dreary … but surprisingly pretty good. Songs like this (especially ones that drag on for more than six minutes) tend to be extremely boring and leave me wishin’ that it wouldn’t exist, but this is quite the contrary! The song changes meters enough (more notably in the latter half when it almost becomes a messed-up pop song) and provides either an interesting melody or unusual (and interesting) instrumentation. The lead singer isn’t Joni Mitchell, but it’s solid. The melody isn’t catchy, but it’s fitting. The instrumentation is the song’s greatest asset by far.

Barbed Wire Trails 8.5/10

I like how this song starts. It has a really nicely-written guitar pickins’ and dissonant chord changes. I’m not too thrilled about the chorus, however, which if it were stronger, this probably would have been a 10. It’s flawed, but very solid for a not-famous band. The ending of this song is really messed up with some crazy guitar-notes, but … that’s not a flaw … or anything.

Goodbye Schmoe 8/10

Dreary and atmospheric. This starts off sounding really boring, but after about two minutes, it just gets creepy and … whoah. I’m not going to call this a great song, because … well, it’s not a great song (…melody, peoples!), but this is affecting!

I Do But Do You? 6.5/10

…No, I don’t like to render listeners catatonic by putting boring songs in my albums! … Well, I haven’t released any albums, but … whatever. This song does what the previous songs merely threatened to do. Be boring. Its presentation is fine, though, providing some interesting bits of composition, but … there’s nothing too interesting to latch onto.

In Social Pretexts 7.5/10

A little better than the last song only because this one is much more dynamic-sounding than sleepy … It still might have been improved by a hooky melody (which would have made me enjoy this), but then again, this isn’t filler! The arrangements are interesting and, some of which, makes the song enjoyable most notably when they *rock out* at the end of the piece. … It’s not *that* enjoyable, though.

As I Am 7/10

…Um… This is a difficult song to describe. Seems to be half-jazz, 25-percent soft rock, and 25-percent weird modern-day art-rock. Not sure if I like the results. It just seems messy and dreary … but there does seem to be an undercurrent of brilliance in this at times. It’s difficult to pin down!

Butcherblock 9.5/10

Well, this is easily the most understated songs on the album, and it’s not necessarily better conceived than most of the other songs on here, but … it’s just very charming. It has long, dreary notes like the previous songs, but this one employs a happy beat and some sweet lines from a harmonica (or at least I think that’s a harmonica). Anyway, this is sort of the dark horse to be number one! But it works! It works better than the band probably thought it would … in my opinion …

Unlisted 6.5/10

Huh???? … Oh, another dreary song. Hmm. Not everyone can be The Flaming Lips.

Living Room 7.5/10

A little better than the last song. I just wish that it was as solidly-made as the songs that appeared in the first few songs of the album! The instrumentation is only mildly interesting this time. There is a fairly solid melody here, though, which is to its advantage.

La Fin Viendra 10/20

Agggg! A nine minute song!!!!! Aggggg! It’s boring! … Did I say this guy’s voice was pretty good? Well, it’s been faltering lately. He just made it good in the first few tracks. … And, um … this song is boring. And long … and … um … with that, I say goodnight.

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