Barr combines spacey jazz with spoken words hitting on the offbeats.
The band is one of kind in umpteen ways. First of all, the band consists of only one person — Brendan Fowler — a man with an abundance of free verse oozing out from an enthusiasm for distinctive communication.
There are very few musical instruments played on "Beyond Reinforced Jewel Case," which forces listeners to keenly examine the discordant articulation of Fowler.
This is Fowler's first album on 5 Rue Christine Records, released in October 2005. The 16 tracks play more like an urban fairy tale than a conventional indie rock release.
If you've become jaded toward the same corny lyrics concerning love and love lost, "Beyond Reinforced Jewel Case" is the album for you. Fowler reiterates the world around himself as if he's the only one wearing 3-D glasses.
The first track on the album, "A Cover," creates wonderful excitement for the rest of the LP. Fowler's first utterances begin on a deep thread exclaiming, "How do you start something/You start it." From there Fowler takes a long pause and repeats the lines, while a groovy jazz beat works its way into the track.
The shortest song — track four — on the album is "(Watching)," which only plays for 11 seconds. All the tune consists of is a couple people repeating "watching skateboards and watching drunks" three times.
"My List of Demands" runs for 5:06 minutes and is the longest song — track nine. A piano plays a flowing ballad with cymbal crashes while Fowler describes an abstracted lurid scene, addressing an unknown person who is money hungry. Fowler states, "I'm going to do my job regardless of your very narrow and confused agenda at your cost," about halfway through the song.
Barr will be opening for Animal Collective at The Temple Club, 500 E. Grand River Ave. in Lansing, on Feb. 24. Fowler was actually in a band with the guys that formed Animal Collective in high school. Things have come full circle for Fowler since he's now touring with his old school chums and still making music.
