Museumgoer
Museumgoer 15 EP
(Bandcamp & Streamers)
The Museumgoer of Baton Rouge has long since been one of our favorite artists and there is a small-animal electric-fence jolt of excitement whenever we get the Bandcamp notification that something new is on the way. Museumgoer 15 is here and it is a joy to hear.
In a year of that will not easily be surpassed for wholly excellent indie instrumental insurgents, (thinking of the likes of Domenique Dumont), Museumgoer takes to the minimal barricades with finesse and elan.
15, like it's predecessors is available now on Bandcamp and comes with an essay from the artist, which might easily double as a handy how to use guide. Gentle, gentle drumroll please, take it away M.goer...
"This dispatch was born over the months straddling the 2020 US election. The sense of finesse and "finishedness" in these pieces (except for "Everything is Falling") is something of a counter to the slipshod feel of the country in this moment of transition during a pandemic and general societal unease."
The scene set then, Musemmgoer talks you through each track, it's a help, although I find myself still pondering the lovely prose even after the tunes have moved along...
"(Conspiracy!)" Museumgoer says, " is an attempt to experience the insidious zeal one must feel when a whacko theory rings true. It is a whispered "Yes!" that is louder than a shout."
"Everything is Falling" literally describes the situation in which the original guitar track was born. "A tug on the guitar cable pulled the USB interface off its little table, which then fell in the headphone cord, yanking my headphones off and knocking my glasses to the floor. I then stumbled into the music stand where my notes and a half a beer joined the salad of failure on the floor. The addition of the Rhodes piano in this is like fondly remembering a moment of real torment."
Robot Pit Stop is an encomia for a wobbling metronome.
The EP reaches its zenith with "Dream Pop Greeting for the Utah Monolith" "the best little piece of music I've done in a while," Museumgoer declares. Maybe its as if they haven't been listening for the previous five minutes. "Just as I finished typing the title, I got a text from my sister in Utah saying the monolith was already gone. If I were an alien, I'd take back my monolith as well."
You will hear: Wurlitzer 200a, Hammond M-101, Fender Rhodes 73, Moog Theremini, pedal steel, electric guitar, electric bass, drums, accordion, xylophone
Cover photo of UFO/hummingbird feeder by the artist. 2020
Museumgoer on Bandcamp
