***For a word that means “gap”, the term lacuna sure has no shortage of meanings. You can find lacunae in scientific research, or gaps in the facts. There’s lacunae in old manuscripts, unfinished or damaged paintings, and esoteric texts. You find lacunae in law—gaps in what protects and punishes in equal measure. You can even find lakes called Lacuna on one of Saturn’s moons, which likely stems from the Latin word “lacus”—a water-filled gap in otherwise solid matter. Conversely, just as lots of gaps exist in this world (and our understanding of it), the lack that defines the lacuna can be complex. Consider a recess in a relationship—a break or a breakup. Pop songs often portray these kinds of schisms as instantaneous; a black magic blast from a traitor who vanishes into the night. And the wounded lover, unable to process the loss, fills that reservoir at once with either self-pitying tears or fist-shaking rage. Such a void is rarely so simple, though. So you’d be right to guess—if you haven’t already—that GRAHAM SMITH's second KLEENEX GIRL WONDER novella in 2018 is not just another breakup album. Of course, anyone who’s spent 25 years stuffing the interstices between hooks and riffs with colloquial wit likely knows far more about lacunae than most. But on White Lacuna, Smith shows us that the gap between two people doesn’t crack open overnight—and the space in between may not be as dark as you think. A white lacuna? That’s right. White, like the ice...
LP $17.75
12/07/2018
***KLEENEX GIRL WONDER's Vana Mundi is a gloriously melodic dive into the deep alienation of contemporary life, with lyrics so simply profound that they have to be heard in order to be felt. It’s the most wondrous, hopeful album of GRAHAM SMITH's career, and it feels absolutely necessary that everyone hear it. In Latin, the album’s title means ‘Empty World.’ In Esperanto, the title means ‘Vain World,’ vain as in wasted effort, or the inflated ego—all is vanity. Either way, Smith knows all about emptiness, wasted effort, and inflated egos. The album is an attempt to come to try and understand those qualities as they exist within himself and those around him. And so Vana Mundi ends up tracing a journey, from a frustrated cynic trapped by their own psychic ice/isolation to someone reaching out to offer understanding and something not unlike love for their fellow humans. For maybe the first time in his long career, Smith is more interested in helping the ‘you’ in his songs than scoring points off them.
LP $17.75
06/22/2018
***For KLEENEX GIRL WONDER, it’s been nearly 20 years of agony and joy, 20 years of stupid GBV comparisons when it’s obvious to anyone paying attention that KGW mastermind GRAHAM SMITH is the Ray Davies of his generation—except Smith watches the world go by on his screen instead of from a window. And now comes The Comedy Album. Clocking in at nearly 76 minutes, it’s KGW’s defining statement, their magnum opus (magnum hopeless?). It goes emotionally deeper than KGW’s ever gone before—more desperate, more despairing—and yet it echoes all the great moments that have come before. Not The Comedy Album as in a collection of jokes. The Tragedy Plus Time Album would be more accurate. Because even as Smith likes his melodies catchy and saturated with hooks, he likes his humor dark and buried in bleakness.
2XLP $24.95
12/02/2016
***The twelfth KLEENEX GIRL WONDER album, Let It Buffer represents another step forward for the full-band experience: the songs are densely lean (with), critically emotional, and all but guaranteed to get stuck in your head. Lead single "Thelema & Louise" transforms an esoteric pun into a treatise on the perils of chaos and sex magicks, while street single "William Roberts" is a rap song in rock song's clothing about the tender line between evoking emotional responses and laughter. In between, KGW packs in 7-syllable rhymes by the hectare and evokes The Spin Doctors (musically) and Chavez and The-Dream (literally—all three in the same song). Basically, you can bet you’re going to get your art criticism’s worth by spending an afternoon with this baby.
LP $14.00
04/30/2013
CD $12.25
04/23/2013