White Fence – ‘For The Recently Found Innocent’ Reviewed
It begins with a minute long prelude. A hazy, ambling number over a floor of fuzz and wah-wah. No sooner has it hit its stride than it ends. “This is for the innocent, for the innocent. For the recently found…”
‘For The Recently Found Innocent’ is the sixth album by White Fence, the brain child of Californian psych-rocker Tim Presley. It’s also the first White Fence album recorded in an actual studio, as opposed to the lo-fi confines of Presley’s bedroom. Fellow garage rock mastermind Ty Segall (aka the most prolific man in the music business) is called in to produce and Segall adds an extra four tracks and a cleaner sound to the throwback psychedelic doctrine of White Fence. The two worked together before in 2012 on the album ‘Hair’ (billed as White Fence & Ty Segall) and once again Segall is able to bring just the right amount of shine to Presley’s tunes of Junkies and Jailbirds.
Tim Presley (left) and Ty Segall (photo via SPIN/Brian Pritchard)
You kinda know what you’re getting into with White Fence. Drippy 60s sound, an affected English accent and a solid groove punctuated by all sorts of jangly guitar sounds. The lo-fi thing allowed Presley to play around with whatever he wanted, and it came to define his music. Tunings are off sometimes, songs change tempo at the drop of a coin. There’s a collage feel to it. But then last year Presley released his first live record as White Fence and it changed everything. There was a power to these songs with a full band that simply can’t exist over a simulated drum loop. Suddenly his punk rock roots were able to come through. For The Recently… doesn’t quite pick up where that one left off, but it is able to incorporate more of the trippy experimentation of the earlier stuff. It’s a natural progression, bigger in scale and bolder too. The various sounds of the various instruments on this record feel like a combined whole instead of the cut and paste nature of his bedroom records. I’m not saying that his old stuff wasn’t any good – in fact it’s all pretty superb – but it’s like scoring 20 goals a season for the Wellington Phoenix. Eventually you’re gonna want that big money transfer overseas to test yourself against the big boys.
Having said that, Presley hasn’t quite gone from Westpac to Wembley. For The Recently… was recorded at Ty Segall’s home studio. His garage, actually. But it’s at least enough of a step up to allow his songs to flower like the hippy-punk flora that they are. ‘Like That’ is the album’s standout. “Clean and full and never hungry, want to live like that…” It’s catchier than a cold in the rain (in a good way) with TP singing ironically about some idyllic lifestyle borrowed straight out of a Heineken commercial or something. Presley has this timeless way with lyrics, merging the mundane with the manic without us really able to tell the difference. “Silence is a question, I never learned the answer”. Is that some Pynchonian aphorism or just a heap of nonsense? ‘Sandra (When the Earth Dies)’ is even weirder. Driven by a three chord riff and some disarmingly funky electric organ, it’s also all sorts of awesome. This is what he can do in a studio setting. Suddenly these songs reach for the skies and the stars and all things incomprehensibly beyond. Sgt Pepper wasn’t made in John Lennon’s bedroom, after all. Albums like that, the studio was an instrument in itself.
There’s a fine line between emulating your idols and straight up stealing from them. In the music of White Fence, there are some pretty clear influences being worn on the sleeves. There’s the San Fran Psych of Jefferson Airplane, sure, and some Byrds jangle for good measure, but the most jarring thing is just how British it all is. The Who, the Kinks, Donovan, Syd Barrett and Sgt Pepper. It’s all on display here. Tim Presley doesn’t exactly redefine this sound, but at least he relocates it into the present era. The punk thing is here for all to see, as is the modern accessibility (if not the modern technology). This is freak-out music for our times.
Songs like ‘Goodbye Law’ and ‘Hard Water’ are built over acoustic riffs. Others rely on a punk rock-type chord progression. He doesn’t spread his musical compass in too many directions but the stuff he does he knows well. ‘Arrow Man’ sounds like Marvel Comics on LSD, while ‘The Light’ must be roughly what it would have sounded like if Syd Barrett fronted The Replacements. It’s pure Flower Punk. ‘Fear’ is the sparsest sounding track of the 14. “I live in fear of wasted time,” sings Presley. He doesn’t waste time at all here. Time is one of his favourite elements to play with. From the short run time (40 mins for 14 songs, most in the 2 min range), to the way he messes with time within a song. Changing the tempo all of a sudden, or mixing and matching guitar bits over each other. Not to mention the fact that he’s drawing 45 years into the past for inspiration.
Ultimately, the back end of the album doesn’t live up to the same heights as the first half. It all just sorta merges together. The album finishes and as much as you enjoyed it, it’s hard to pick one song out from the rest (aside from the first 4 or so). Still, if you love the sound like I do there’s plenty to keep coming back for. White Fence is a consistently impressive band, always looking to take things to the next level. Ty Segall has to get a lot of credit here for his generous production, which is kinda frustrating since it was Ty who stole most of the headlines over their duet album too and Tim Presley is a supreme talent in his own right. Ty’s own album, ‘Manipulator’, is out later in the year and it could well be one of 2014’s standouts (just as ‘Sleeper’ was last year). I don’t know how he finds the time to do so much but I’m glad he does. This is Tim Presley’s moment though, and he’s earned it. A solid step in the right direction and hopefully a stepping stone for things to come.
(SPIN/Brian Pritchard)