Eddie Vedder - Ukulele Songs
Angst ridden teenagers find Nirvana’s Nevermind like dying criminals find religion and Navy SEALS find terrorists. Yet puberty’s right of passage Nevermind is held in a vacuum created by the untimely death of Kurt Cobain, forever critic proof. But what happens to those artists who have to exist outside the bubble of grunge, grow up and stop partying like it’s 1991? Well they release an album of Ukulele Songs… obviously.
There was always going to be an inherent absurdity about Vedder’s Ukulele Songs, such a diminutive instrument is hard to take seriously at the best of times but in the hands of the man who brought us ‘Even Flow’ and ‘Jeremy’ the odds of this record being ludicrous were frankly way high, yet the Pearl Jam frontman doesn’t shy from the silliness. Just look at ‘Hey Fahkah,’ an eight seconds interlude where Vedder fluffs his lines as an example of the lighter side of this album.
The rest of the record is an unassuming affair; often it’s just Vedder and his ‘Uke’ [as I am assured the cool kids call it], and that’s the pleasure of this record. The early Pearl Jam albums [especially re-mastered] are incredible powerhouses of music, yet Vedder’s voice over the last two decades has grown, matured and filled out, even if his annunciation throughout the years leaves a lot to be desired. Strip back the loud often-hostile music of Pearl Jam and the simple beauty of the songs and Vedder’s voice is revealed. Songs barely ever reach the three-minute mark, which helps keep the ‘twee-ness’ of Eddie Vedder’s Ukulele love songs to a minimum and add that to a sweet, almost tender, duet with Cat Powers on ‘Tonight You Belong to Me’ and you’re left with the feeling that, however unexpected, Ukelele Songs is a real joy.
Ukulele Songs is a thin wisp of an album, light, delicate and lovely, a complete surprise from the man from Pearl Jam.
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Daniel W. Raper.
