Album Review: The Alternative To Love – Brendan Benson

Ahhhh … home recording, catchy sing-alongs, wonderfully understated vocal melodies, jangly guitar licks — yeah, that’s right, Brendan Benson‘s at it again. V2′s The Alternative to Love marks Benson’s return to a more ‘major’ label (a step that admittedly didn’t work out so well for him the first time around with Virgin Records’ One Mississippi back in 1996). While this set of recordings isn’t as instantly memorable as 2002′s Lapalco, Benson’s still got a pretty solid record working for him.

The most noticeable aspect of The Alternative to Love is how spacious it seems compared to the rest of Benson’s catalog. His previous work seemed tightly scripted and concise; on these twelve songs, though, Benson’s sound seems to sprawl out and roam around musically far more often than before. At times, this works to his advantage – such as on “Feel Like Myself,” which manages to conjure up a musical nature that’s equal parts peppy and cooly, deliberately laid-back. The overall tone of the tune seems deeper and more full than the usual Benson fare, though it’s not like the song’s bogged down with extra layers of tracks to make it come off that way – it just sounds that Benson’s honed his already considerable abilities to get more from less.

In other spots, though, this newfound expansiveness leads the disc to falter – and although these flaws are momentary, they’re noticeable enough to warrant consideration as blemishes to the record. For example, the album’s title track clocks in at right around four-and-a-half minutes in length, and the first three minutes and change are blissful; the last forty seconds, however, feel like an eternity when the track meanders aimlessly courtesy of a round of overblown repetition.

Still, the bulk of the material here is vintage Brendan, as songs like “Spit it Out,” “What I’m Looking For,” “Gold Into Straw” and “Cold Hands (Warm Heart)” reaffirm the fact that Benson is still a fine songwriter. The piano-laced near ballad “Biggest Fan” is a standout track as well (oddly enough, a few of the melody parts are vaguely reminiscent of Madonna’s “Papa Don’t Preach”).

This is most definately a different breed of album than Lapalco. Benson’s last record was bright golden pop nugget after pop nugget, and the album was instantly gratifying because of it. It’s unclear whether this was his intention, but The Alternative to Love is a far more sneaky record – it’s still very poppy, indeed, but this is the kind of record that takes multiple listens to truly settle into. Where Lapalco made folks perk up four or five times upon first listen to say, “What a good song!,” The Alternative to Love is more likely to take four or five full listens before the response comes out as, “What a good album!” There’s a big difference between the two, and it remains to be seen if Benson’s potentially expanding audience is willing to spend time to appreciate the subtle charms of The Alternative to Love. – Gary Blackwell