Jandek - The Place - Review

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The Place is a similar album to The Humility of Pain. There’s nothing really interesting going on with the guitar, it’s a lot of the same stuff. The vocal delivery is good, although I feel like it’s starting to get old from the initial shock the new style gave on I Threw You Away. The final track “The Stumble” has the most dissonant and disorienting harmonica I've ever heard Jandek play, so it’s probably the best song on here. There aren’t many tracks, so I'll try to talk about the lyrics of each one, since that’s the only remaining feature to really discuss. 

“The Picture” is a philosophical song that questions how we move, how we communicate, how we construct time, and how everything is always moving and coming and going. It’s very abstract and full of wisdom.

“The Place” is more straightforward and easier to follow. It’s about Jandek looking for a key to a place that he’s left unchanged, and he wants everything to be exactly the way he left it, but he doesn’t actually know what’s inside. It’s a very strange metaphorical concept indeed. I think the message is that we tend to fear change, but our tendency for curiosity kills the possibility for stability. 

“The Highway” is also kind of straightforward, but very wise and abstract. The story seems to be about Jandek waking up from a near-death experience after falling in a chasm in the road and feeling physically and mentally scattered and confused. He worries about falling in the chasm again and waking up in another body or another place, or as nothing at all. I think it says a lot about how traumatic experiences affect us and change our decision making. 

I imagine “The Answer” is about a dream that includes an ancient face, a flashlight without a hand, an unknown person, and a lot of other surreal imagery that seems to just be an imaginary journey. Perhaps it means something, but it seems like nonsense to me. Edit: After reading another listener's interpretation, I think it’s more about Jandek hearing someone outside the door and having a bunch of imaginations about who it could be instead of answering the door. 

“The Stumble” has some beautiful lines, but the subject matter is hard to pinpoint. The lyrics talk of times and places shifting. The one pattern I can identify throughout the lines is how he can still accomplish what he needs, even if his legs become impaired or broken. There are many things to take away from this song, but what I get out of it is that physical ability is not a representation of the true self.

Overall, I like the lyrics and I liked interpreting them. They feel fresh and new. The music itself was decent but nothing I haven’t heard before. 

7/10

Essential album?: Maybe

Essential songs:

The Place

The Stumble