Pop music does, indeed, move in cycles and several of those hardly need professional musicians at all. The guitar hero may weep at the notion, but their use to record producers skips a couple of generations before briefly rebecoming fashionable. Drummers, as well, can’t always compete with the business proposition of using, instead, a drum machine that doesn’t complain or request a paycheck.
But there’s just one job that the music industry hasn’t yet figured out how to make obsolete. It’s the job of the songwriter, of course. And while I’m sure there’s someone in the Universal offices rubbing their hands together, reading nonsense spat out by Grok about the creative potential of AI, there’s nothing doing. They’ll need songwriters like Alex Kisch forever, and, if smart, they ought to start cutting checks now.
On “Through the Static,” the new album by Kisch’s solo vehicle Super Tuesday, the musician isn’t just fishing for praise from fans of R.E.M., The Replacements or Evan Dando, although he’ll likely get it.
Nah, Kisch is just stretching his creative muscles, penning clever indie-rock songs, earworms all of them, and showing that you ain’t got no music scene for too long without the appropriate songs for audiences to get behind.
Take the jingle-jangle opener, “Natural Mystery,” with its charming verses and melancholy-filled choruses. Will you get a robot to write those tiny, striking guitar riffs over the perfect chord progression and blend them with warm, emotion-filled vocals? Well, even if you could, why would it matter?
What you want is someone who’s lived it all and has kept enough of their wits following their rock n’ roll sojourns to tell it like it is, and sing it with a smile. The drum machine-assisted “Carpe Diem” is a meditation on mortality, but also assures you that time’s bound to pass no matter whether you grieve or celebrate. And, the slow-paced, soulful piano number “Cliffridge (Part 2)” admits to the inevitable weight of past decisions.
Super Tuesday, just like the best songwriter-driven projects, and unlike any AI tools, has a knack for setting up tiny, pleasing surprises. “Through the Static” sounds like a ’90s Tom Petty tune, but it’s the way that the vocals take a sharp turn in following the guitar chords that provides the hook. And The Lemoneads-like “Soaking Up the Silence” has all the harmonies and riffs to set up a gorgeous chorus that gives the song its exclamation mark.
That’s not to say that Kisch is here to rub anyone’s belly, or that he hasn’t matured since the days of being part of 90s alt-rock group Dirt Merchants. Adversity, tragedy and upheavals are always there, sure. Those do colour the lyrical content of “Orphans” or “Your Time Has Come.”
But where does it all leave us? Kisch is a lucky man. He’s got his talent and the vision to create Super Tuesday’s music. That’s more than most have, and more than any computer can offer.
Is it all a waste of time writing jangly guitar songs? No, as the tender, 90s indie-inspired “My Love Don’t Sleep” proves. When things get complicated, you should always be able to rely on a songwriter to put the right melody together and to make things better.
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