Built To Spill - When The Wind Forgets Your Name (2022) Hi Res

Gen X indie rockers embracing '70s classic rock has become more and more inevitable. Maybe it's because that's the music of their childhood. Or maybe it's because with age, admitting you like something so basic and elemental becomes easier. Whatever the case, Doug Martsch and his latest lineup of Built to Spill go all in on the band's eighth album, its first in seven years. "Gonna Lose" is pure arena rock with drum fillers, a noodling bridge and big '70s guitars playing Built to Spill melodies instead of cock-rock flash. The song's great; so much so, it prompts the question "Wouldn't it be fun if Wilco did something like this?" "Fool's Gold," meanwhile, is a drum-forward AOR bliss-out: With Martsch's drawn-out delivery of spacey lyrics like "juuuust a dreeeam," moony strings and spare music that vibrates, it's laser-show ready. Meanwhile, "Elements"—a moody oceanic meditation—could be the soundtrack to some Jacques Cousteau underwater film as done by a jam band. Bits of organ break through like light from the surface, the music actually sounds watery at the bridge, and it all fades out with crashing surf. Martsch's droney delivery hypnotizes with lines like "The blind can see/ The deaf can hear/ Finding out what/ Is my greatest fear" on "Understood," a groovy mashup of Blue Oyster Cult vibes and jangle rock. There's even Duane Allman-style slip-sliding guitar on "Alright," which features a soothing, lullaby-like melody protected by grand but hushed drums and guitar. "We can't do what we want/ So we do what we can/ Fuck all those people who don't understand" go the lyrics, the level of aggression turned up to 11, at least on a Doug Marstch dial. "Rocksteady" is a whole new vision for the band, dipping into funk, futurama organ and even a bit of East Asian guitar riff. And the album comes full circle with "Comes a Day"—a shoulder-shaking bop of a melody with jagged guitars and ragged drums that winds out in an epic jam and feels the most like the, well, classic rock of old Built to Spill.