Abandoned Pools – Humanistic (2001)

SCORE: 8.4

    During one of Tommy Walter's press interviews for Humanistic, he commented on the name of his project Abandoned Pools. "On the record, there's a lot of things about suburban life and that melancholy, and it just reminded me of a pool in the yard of a house that had been drained out with weeds growing over the side." The idea sounded simplistic: make a record that targets suburbia and its endless set of contradictions. The idea was foolish. Thousands of bands had already tried this, to varying degrees of success. Indeed, Charlotte's 90's-darling Ben Folds had made (and continues to make) a career out of observations on the largest and least marginalized area of Western society. Commercials specifically target and stereotype them, networks aim for them, and religious groups exist endlessly monetarily secure because of them. It's in this incredibly oversaturated market that Tommy Walter, the one-man force behind Abandoned Pools, manages to project something that hardly any other songwriter has: reality. Everyone from the block is able to sing songs about their life in suburbia, about high school and its vast set of contradicting emotions, but most suffer from a sickening sense of self-awareness. Walter's aware; he also graphs himself as part of the never-ending circle that traps suburbanites.

    The album opens with the single "The Remedy," which manages to walk the fine line between emo and emotional. Dark, reverberated piano chords punctuate a harshly delivered diatribe, and continuing through "Mercy Kiss," Walter sticks on an angry bent. But, as he does throughout the album with clever track-ordering, the tone is broken up by "Start Over," a tune that laments humanity per monotony. Tommy Walter graduated USC with a degree in Music Composition, so it's no surprise that he approaches rock (as seen on "Blood" and the perfect "Sunny Day") from a textural standpoint. Clarinets, horns, and the brilliantly brooding drumming of none other than Josh Freese punctuate an album that only falters in one track, the out-of-place "L.V.B.D." You'll be hard pressed to find a better song to drink to than "Never," or a better arranged song than "Sunny Day" in alternative music. One of the finer no-frills rock efforts of the decade.

~ Ben Fisher