Tom Lynch

Difficult to believe Joan of Arc’s “How Memory Works,” the band’s sophomore record that showed how inventive and exhausting the band was willing to be, is ten years old, as the sheer thrilling oddity of the entire enterprise still sounds remarkably fresh. Between then and now much has occurred—many more records from Joan of Arc, for starters, but also Tim Kinsella’s Make Believe and brother Mike’s Owen, plus even more. 2006’s “Eventually, All at Once,” had its moments, but “Boo Human,” the recently released new record from Joan of Arc, certainly the most accessible record from the band since its early days, treads in desperation, loneliness and pure anger with such conviction that over-the-top emotive singer-songwriters should listen and take notes. On what's essentially a breakup record but much more in the end, Tim Kinsella, along with a scroll of local musicians (including guitar mindfucker Sam Zurich and virtuoso upright-bassist Josh Abrams) crafts a sobering timeline of distress that, musically, captures the essence of a band that’s explored the ends of the Earth for sonic elements. You accomplish much with unpredictable distorted guitar lines and Kinsella’s perpetual wail, but the highest points are the album’s acoustic-guitar-based bookends, the foreshadowing opener “Shown and Told” and, finally, after a haunting assemblage of twelve more songs, the painful closer that is “So-and-So.” Maybe Kinsella’s never been this honest, or maybe we’re just hearing it all for the first time because his message isn’t skewed by layers of noise. Either way, there’s an unexpected peace heard here, unexpected on our end, and though it’s of a sad kind, everyone can take comfort. Maybe even Kinsella himself.

Joan of Arc plays July 27 at Beat Kitchen, 2100 West Belmont, (773)281-4444, at 9pm. $12.

(2008-07-22)

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