Look At You, The Wide-Eyed Ingenue

Liz Phair “Stars and Planets” – Surely Liz Phair’s new album must be Somebody’s Miracle, but I have a hard time imagining who that lucky person could be. Most of the record sounds like Phair slowly backing herself out of the corner she painted herself into on her previous album, clearly making some half-hearted attempt to lure back the people who screamed “0.0!” by ditching the Matrix and toning down the lyrical audacity, but obviously unwilling to make a full retreat from a commercial sound for fear of seeming cowardly. Understandably so – I definitely believe that Phair wanted to make that glossy self-titled album, and though a quick “return to form” would have satisfied critics and her core audience, it would have forever relegated that album to the status of oddity/misstep, and I think she’d rather not have to look like a person who second-guessed the bravest (though maybe not best…) artistic decision she’s ever made.

The songs mainly fall into two categories – aggressively tasteful AAA ballads that are pretty enough but lack the color and gravity of Liz classics like “Perfect World,” “Nashville,” and “Explain It To Me,” and up-tempo rockers with super-clean bar rock arrangements that don’t quite gel with her trademark low monotone cool-girl affectation. This is a problem, since in its own way this record is more alienating than Liz Phair, because there’s not much to offer fans of sparkly pop songs like “Why Can’t I?,” “Extraordinary,” and “Rock Me,” much less the people who adored the Liz of the first three records.

“Stars and Planets” is an obvious highlight from the record, falling someplace between poppy early 90s fare like Belly, Velocity Girl, and Julianna Hatfield, the Sesame Street theme, and John Lennon’s “Instant Karma.” I would’ve loved for all of Somebody’s Miracle to sound as bright and optimistic as this number, but unfortunately the mood of the record comes off about as emotionally neutral as it musically indecisive. Still, that song along with a few others continue to provide me with faith in Phair, and the hope that she’ll come around to figuring it all out before too long. Maybe it’s the next record, it could be two or three down the line. I’m patient, and certainly willing to enjoy the good bits that come along the way. (Click here to pre-order it from Amazon.)