Sunset Rubdown

Dragonslayer

(Jagjaguwar)

Record Review by Alex Pudlin

Songs about dragons, kingdoms or wizards far too often suffer from a grandiose case of renaissance faire blues. Fantastical images and plots have a place in music but when songwriting suffers by way of the knight’s sword, the results are usually quite hilarious.  Witness Spinal Tap’s “Stonehenge.” Sunset Rubdown’s last album Random Spirit Lover unfortunately followed in the footsteps of a whole slew of dated ‘70s minstrel sounds. Despite Spencer Krug’s admirable risk taking on RSL, tone and content upstaged song craft. Now, on Dragonslayer, Krug returns with a merry cast of warriors and royalty but this time remembers to bring a full album’s worth of equally noble songs.

From the clanging piano chords on album opener “Silver Moons” to the prog-epic of “Dragon’s Lair,” Krug retains the mood of Random Spirit Lover but now the songs bristle with more confidence and an increasingly organic sense of adventure.  On “Idiot Heart” theatrics abound. Glockenspiels and synth chords ring out proud, guitar jabs punctuate the air and Camilla Wynne Ingr and Krug affectionately hope that “you die in a decent pair of shoes” because “you’ve got a lot of long walking to do.” Lyrically, Krug takes great pleasure in the juxtaposition between the tangible at the romantic throughout the record. From valley girls and dream weavers,  to Nashville and nightingales, Krug’s tales feel equally ancient and modern, as if his whole quest is to illuminate the mythology of our present.

Many of the songs are longer than tracks found on RSL yet in nearly every case the music pulses with more momentum, direction and range. “Black Swan” steals the show as one of the finest numbers Krug has ever conceived. Snare drum rim-clicks set the scene as atmospheric guitar drips over tom-toms until we’re a hit with an explosive blast of keyboards and chants. And then it’s back to the feedback and tribal tom-toms.  Elsewhere,  Sunset Rubdown’s dynamic counterbalance rests on the interplay between Camilla Wynne Ingr and Krug. Wynne Ingr’s even-temperament serves as a restrained anchor to Krug’s slightly hysterical yowl . Much like the effect of Kim Deal on Black Francis, Krug and Wynne Ingr lean on each other’s strengths to produce a fully balanced sound.

Although the last third of Dragonslayer loses some of its initial punch, Krug and the rest of Sunset Rubdown  include just enough spoils to delight listeners, whether you intend to pursue the Holy Grail or merely need an album to pass the time sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the 405. Album closer “Dragon Lair” may state Sunset Rubdown’s case the best. Under most circumstances, a song that references Rapunzel, Samson and Delilah, and sword sharpening may test a great deal of patience. Yet  on Dragonslayer, the cadences and cascades feel more like Pavement’s “Filmore Jive” than Gentle Giant. Like the best of history’s dragon slayers, Krug conveys courage, brawn and an overwhelming sense of triumph.