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More A.D.D. lo-fi pop from Vermont's Dean Wells, who continues cranking out the skewed minute-long tunes like Robert Pollard and Daniel Johnston snowbound in a cabin together. This disc doesn't represent any kind of departure from his previous releases, but it does show another incremental step forward in the quality of the songwriting and melodies. It also features recurring lyrical motifs involving the myth of Orpheus and Euridice and "moonchild" girls. Wells has quite a way with words, whether he's being romantic ("You must have a lead coat over your angel's wings"), horny ("I'm a vote in the affirmative and you are pulling my lever"), or dumped ("She says 'here's my ass, now do without it,'" sung forlornly). Particular highlights include: "Sleepcure Theory Advancer", which has a great chorus with the aforementioned "angel's wings" lyric; the erratic jangle of "Orpheus in His Underware" [sic]; "Most Cultures Were Wrong," with its too-loud guitar solo; "I Don't Mind You Dragging Me Down," which has yelpy backing vocals that sound like a drunk late-night phone call; and "Our Southern Ambitions," which has another memorable chorus. This is the first Capstan Shafts release I've heard that feels fully formed; and so Wells continues marching on toward full-fledged brilliance. (mike.05.06)
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Disc number 8 (give or take) from Vermont-based The Capstan Shafts finds sole Shaft Dean Wells fulfilling much of the promise of his previous self-released discs. His M.O. is still the same—super-short pop songs (20 in under 27 minutes here), recorded quickly and roughly on 4-track—but the song quality is improving quite a bit.
It's possible to identify one single track that encapsulates the current essence of The Capstan Shafts: "Fates Hammer, Hollows and Powderkegs" is so sloppy that it verges on collapsing into chaos, but the rhythmic sophistication of the vocal melody anchors the song. Wells's knack for melodies is really starting to blossom, and there are some downright great ones here, for instance on "Hominid Stickler." He can pop out some jaunty basslines ("Wonderful Lottery Ticket Way") and sloppy but effective guitar leads ("A Gal Called Allegory") as well. The Tobin Sprout similarity again surfaces at times, particularly on "Here Comes Down." Sonic experimentation doesn't really seem to be on Wells's agenda; there are a few seconds of backwards music at the end of the next-to-last track, but that seems more like an accidental artifact of the 4-track recording process than a deliberate move. By keeping his sonic toolbox basic and his songs cut down to the essence, Wells seems to be fast-forwarding his development as a songwriter, rapidly accumulating skills and ideas and spewing them out onto tape just as quickly. The overall effect is like flipping through the sketchbook of a talented artist: a barrage of ideas in raw, unfinished form, with the promise of greater things to come. (mike.03.06)
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About once a month, Dean Wells, a.k.a. The Capstan Shafts, has been sending us a new CD-R e.p. of his sloppy, distorted, fairly rudimentary lo-fi pop songs. His main inspirations seem to be Morrissey, from whom he borrows vocal stylings and some dry, twisted humor, and Bob Pollard, for his prolificness and penchant for semiabstract wordplay. The average song on each of these discs is under a minute and a half, so things move along pretty briskly. The best songs are on the 3rd disc, hopegetswheels, particularly "Little Burst of Sunshine" and the Tobin Sprout-esque "Dinosaurs to Drive Off". I do like the concept of popping out a quick e.p. once a month or so, and it'll be interesting to see if the quality continues to improve with each subsequent disc. (mike.05.05)
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