JIM ROLL
Inhabiting The Ball (The Telegraph Company)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

---

This Ann Arbor-based singer/songwriter has a new label for his third full length release and a new approach to go with it. The most obvious departure from his previous work is the inclusion of a pair of outside lyricists in the persons of noted novelists Denis Johnson and Rick Moody, who contribute to three and five tracks respectively. Co-producer Brian Deck has also added a new dimension of sound, decorating Roll's typically straightforward arrangements with a variety of sonic surprises.

That new dimension of sound, and the influence of the outside lyricists, is at its most pervasive on the title track, which opens the album with a Denis Johnson word salad resting on a bed of found sounds and dialogue from his play Shoppers Carried By Escalators Into The Flame. The song is used in the play itself, where it has a more natural context, but it's a risk as the opening track to an indie album. Persistent listeners, though, will find that it becomes an intriguing entryway into the musical world that Jim Roll has created for this project. Of the remaining co-authored material, my favorites would have to be Johnson's "Desperado In The Parking Lot" and Rick Moody's "Blue Guitar."

The best stuff of all, though, belongs exclusively to Jim Roll. The presence of three songs, "Bonnie And Clyde," "Eddie Rode The Orphan Train" and "To Be Alarmed," offer all the reasons I need to recommend this disc without reservation. They are perfect examples of Jim Roll's ability to create a new character with a few words, a new landscape with a few notes and spin those simple elements into a new world that you may not want to live in, but that you'll certainly want to know better.

Track List:

Inhabiting The Ball * Bonnie And Clyde * You * Killjoy * Kicking At The Traces * Blue Guitar * Handsome Daniel * Eddie Rode The Orphan Train * Curious One * In-Flight Magazines * Heartache Song * Desperado In The Parking Lot * To Be Alarmed

© 2002 - Shaun Dale