The Believer

by

Rhett Miller

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Rhett Miller's second solo outing is a brave one. This disc is unlike anything he has ever done before. The lush arrangements on the album might turn a few Old 97's fans off, but the Miller's lyrics continue to impress. The strongest tracks on the album for me are "Brand New Way", "Meteor Shower", "The Believer" and "My Valentine". I'm always impressed with Miller's ability to capture human emotions in his songs, the strogest example on this disc being the title track. In part written for late great singer-songwriter Elliott Smith, this song is the most venerable track on the album. There are a few tracks that Old 97's fans might recognize, "Fireflies", "Singular Girl", and a new arrangement of the female fan favorite "Question". While some fans of the Old 97's might brush these songs off as a rehashing of old material, I think the new arrangments give new life to the songs. "Fireflies", featuring Rachel Yamagata, is hauntingly beautiful, and is in the running for the twangiest song on the album. There are, of course, songs about love, the most straightforward being, "I'm With Her", pop melody at its finest. "Ain't That Strange" conjures up glam-rock and is sure to make the concert audience nod and bob thier heads. Overall, I this this album is very good, and won't be leaving my CD player for a very long time, and I hope it gets some time in yours too.

The fact that Miller's solo renditioning of his band The Old 97's song "Singular Girl" leaves out the line "you've got the teeth of the Hydra upon you" is endemic of the rest of the album. I can just see some music exec telling Rhett that line is too weird and not commercial enough. So out it goes, and the song now sounds like a tepid and unconvincing version of the original. Compared to the amazing but apparently not successful enough "Instigator" solo album, "The Believer" sounds overly produced and much less distinctive. The numerous photos of Rhett giving the listener soulful glances indicate that they were trying to position him as the next teenage heartthrob. Sure he's cute, but why not let his singing and songwriting speak for themselves? And what's the deal with the unnecessary string arrangements on almost every song? There are some good songs on this CD but overall it's far inferior to The Instigator and Rhett's work with the Old 97s. I liked you better as an Instigator, Rhett - but I'm not a Believer in this latest incarnation.