OWEN
July 1st, 2011
In the past decade, Chicago’s Mike Kinsella has played a variety of instruments in a handful of bands including Cap’n Jazz, Joan of Arc, The One Up Downstairs, American Football, Owls, Maritime, and Aloha. Owen is his solo project.
The impetus for Owen was a direct result of the demise of American Football. Up to that point, having been associated with a number of bands, Mike sought a project where he could have complete creative control over all aspects including songwriting, recording, album artwork, and overall artistic direction.
Since releasing 2009′s New Leaves shortly after the birth of his daughter, Kinsella has embraced the untraditional role of being a stay-at-home father — a situation that has invariably led Mike to ruminate on the passing of his own father and their strained relationship.
As such, 2010′s Ghost Town finds Kinsella ridding his proverbial closet of lingering presences.
Musically, Ghost Town features some of Owen’s loudest, rock-leaning moments to date — exemplified by the forcefully crescendoing outro of “I Believe” and the screeching electric guitar solo in “Everyone’s Asleep in the House but Me.”
That Ghost Town proves to be yet another step toward a new musical direction should come as no surprise to those who have followed Owen’s songwriting evolution from sparse acoustic offerings (on his self-titled debut) to lush, string-filled arrangements (At Home With Owen, New Leaves).
With production by Brian Deck (Iron & Wine) and Neil Strauch (Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy), the songs on Ghost Town become as beautifully fleshed-out as Kinsella finds the lyrical apparitions he confronts to be frustratingly lacking substance.
As a result, the record serves to reincarnate the souls haunting Kinsella — enabling him to achieve closure and move forward with the next chapter of his life.
OWEN will be playing Middlewest Fest 2011 on Saturday 9/10 at SMLTWN Skate Shop.
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