ALAN SEMERDJIAN – WHEN THERE WAS SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOU

TheCelebrityCafe.com, NY
May 3 2006

– Generally, I just don’t like pretentiousness. Anything that goes out
of its way to claim that there is some sort of general truth beneath
it or greater energy, around which it orbits, irks me to the point
where I just naturally gravitate toward less “deep” material.

Sure, Jess Simpson may be an airhead, but she is also remarkably
forth-right about the fact, whereas you can find no end to the number
of frustrated artists and rockers whose work has been tainted by a
vicious self-importance. Of course, acting in the role of a critic
(even a poor one) requires no small degree of pretension either, so,
before I go off sounding like an utter hypocrite let me just say that I
really enjoyed much of what Alan Semerdjian put into his latest foray.

The New York Indie-rock/folk singer/songwriter would seem to be the
poster-child of post-modern nonsense run amok. His web-site describes
the album as blending “together indie-folk pop, alt-country forays
into the world of punk and free jazz, as well as subtle hints of his
Armenian-heritage…” I have no idea what the hell they are talking
about here, but to keep in step I’ll describe the tunes as electric
folk with a smidgeon of wild rock-west guitar and a prevailing gust of
poeticism. This kind of art-speak is what post-modernism is all about:
words, images and sound devoid of any firm content. The meaning is
supposed to be polymorphous I guess, but as far as judging the music
selection I encourage you to listen to what is here rather than how
its supporters would describe it.

To put it simply and unequivocally, this is alternative folk music.

Semerdjian screws around with some weird instruments now and then,
but they serve mostly to distract, as if to say, “Look at this,
it’s that Australian Aboriginal thingy in the background! That’s
different.” However, when he sticks to his strong suit, powerful lyrics
belted out by an almost-conversational beatnik voice, a scruffy guitar
and melancholy piano backing everything up, the results are enough
to make you want to start snapping spontaneously.

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