The Way Out by The Books
LABEL: Temporary Residency

It’s been five years since the last album from The Books.

For most bands, that span of inactivity would be enough to enter them to the vat of obscurity. However, for The Books, and certainly other bands whose unique talents render them indispensable—five years is slightly more forgivable. Think of it as an extended period of artistic breath-catching. Certain bands need that time.

With The Books, this should not be debated. Their 2005 full-length effort, Lost and Safe, wasn’t simply the product of off-the-cuff musicianship. The Books creative process begins far before a single string is plucked or sample snipped. A shameless collector,  the band’s Paul de Jong has curated a vast library of audio, video tapes, cassettes and LPs gleaned from Salvation Army Thrift Stores. This makes his job hard. Sifting through so many sounds and snippets requires a working pair of ears and lots of time, time that there is never enough of.

Then, both band members (de Jong and Nick Zammuto) had kids.

With The Books, it’s easy to imagine that having kids was a part of the creative process as well for this album. The Way Out’s third track, the jarring and enticing “A Cold Freezin’ Night” focuses on the sampled dialogue of two feuding children, one an overly aggressive but clearly harmless boy, and the other a defensive and potty-mouthed little girl. There is antagonism here, for sure, but there is also a tacit celebration like the pure and sincere conversation only children can have. “I wish I was a boy,” the little girl admits as the strange pulsing rhythm beats behind her. These kids are having fun, and so are The Books.

But that youthful exuberance is perhaps undercut by the album’s seemingly more central message, one clearly alluded to in its title.

The Way Out is an album about escape through unconventional means. Besides being the title, it’s also embedded in the album’s voices. In the opener, "Group Autogenics 1” New Age sages lead their followers “deeper and deeper,” their messages snipped and reconfigured to the point of inanity. “Beautiful People” is a hymn to the glory that is mathematics, a strange mix of the rationality of shape and the irrational faith people can have in it. “I Am Who I Am” features the frenzied voice of a preacher so wrapped up with the semantics of identity, that, with the help of The Books, his message is completely lost. Religion and new age spiritualism become wrapped up together, leading the listener to conclude that the way out might just be in.

If their previous albums placed The Books within a category all their own, The Way Out cements that position. But, The Books’ latest release also offers something new. It’s bolder, the sonic result of a band knowing and understanding its place in an often-entrenched music world. An anonymous voice on Group “Autogenics 1” calls it a new beginning. And this may just be true.


REVIEWED BY RICARDO BILTON
RICARDO’S FAVORITE TRACKS: “Cold Freezin’” •  “Night, I Am Who I Am” “Free Translator”


MP3: “Beautiful People” (right-click & save)