Tom's Best of 2005: #10

Well, I've barely started and I'm already a day behind. Serves me right for doing this at one of the busiest times of the year and depending on being able to access the internet at my parents' place. Anyway, here's #10, I should be on #9, but that will be made up at a point that's not today.

Greg Weeks - Blood is Trouble

Earlier I described Blood is Trouble as what Beck's Sea Change might have sounded like if Beck were capable of any degree of sincerity. To this I'll add that Beck would also have to be filled with dread and paranoia. Greg Weeks has specialized in these feelings, although often they are conveyed in vague and subtle ways, and Blood is Trouble is no different. It is by far the most rock-based of Weeks' solo efforts, coming even at a time when he was moving in as folky a direction as he ever has with his band, Espers. Ditching the droning harmoniums and mellotrons in favor of electric guitars and drums turns out to be a way to make Weeks' songs hit a little more directly, and feel less unearthly. While still no match for 2001's Awake Like Sleep, Blood is Trouble is another strong entry in the catalogue of a fascinating songwriter.