Remember how insufferably pompous
Sting looked, reading Jung on the cover of the Synchronicity album? Well,
Marty Willson-Piper has him beat: his cover photo prominently features books by Cocteau, Camus, Strindberg and Maupassant. And not only is the cover art pretentious, but Piper's songs reach new levels of masturbatory self-involvement as well. Song titles include "I Can't Cry," "Will I Bleed," and "Can't Ever Risk an Openness with You." Half the songs have to do with being bitten, stabbed, burned and otherwise hurt by cruel womankind; all of them explore the seemingly bottomless depths of Piper's personal woundedness. So why the high grade? Because the songs are almost all very, very pretty, and this level of solipsistic pretense can be at least partially forgiven when it's couched in genuinely inventive melodies and classy guitar playing. Luckily, Spirit Level offers plenty of both. ~ Rick Anderson