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TRAVISTAN
(Barsuk)
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As the charismatic frontman and principal songwriter for the Dismemberment Plan, Washington’s celebrated kings of quirk rock, Travis Morrison’s real strength was his ability to tell a compelling story. On his first solo effort since the Dismemberment Plan called it quits last year, his lyrical mode remains very much intact. Travistan is almost literary in its structure and style. "Get Me Off This Coin," parts A through D, are quick acoustic ditties poking fun at politics and history that break the album into three chapters and an epilogue. Although the songs don’t form a narrative, certain common themes, particularly injustice, morality, and mortality, run throughout. Some pieces evince the white-boy funk and the unexpected curveballs of Morrison’s previous songwriting, but there are times when he falls into melodramatic mundanity, as at the end of "My Two Front Teeth, Parts 2 and 3." Even so, it’s his lyrics that carry the album. On "Change," he quotes a pissed-off Moses: "‘Y’all coulda built a boat/If anybody had the guts/while I was up there talking to plants and growing my beard to my nuts!’" And anyone who can rhyme "la de da" with "je ne sais quoi" without sounding ridiculous should be applauded. (Travis Morrison performs this Saturday, September 18, at Great Scott, 1222 Commonwealth Avenue in Allston ; call 617-566-9014.)
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