Music history is littered with artists who released just one album, or only a handful of them, over the course of a career. Jeff Buckley, the La’s, post-Fugees Lauryn Hill to name a few. Then, at the other end of the spectrum, there are people like ‘cosmic’ experimentalist Sun Ra, who brought out over 100 albums, or US indie survivors Guided by Voices, who have released in the region of 1,000 songs.
John Darnielle delves into the lore of 2002’s All Hail West Texas with a soft-rock opera that adds baroque arrangements to his brutal, tender storytelling.
Photo: Jackie Lee Young Serious questions would need to be raised if anyone claimed to be the same person that they were 20 years ago. Time ultimately softens some aspects of our personalities while hardening others against the world. And, while there is no shame .