Will Johnson
Murder of Tides (Undertow)Like Guided by Voices’ Robert Pollard, Will Johnson never fails to amaze with his prolific songwriting and, unlike Pollard, his amazing consistency. Thanks to main man Johnson, Denton/Dallas darlings Centro-matic have established themselves as the state’s finest low-to-the-ground indie sensations. If there was a Matador or Drag City branch in Texas, Centro-matic would be the flagship band. After last year’s ebullient Distance & Clime, Johnson has focused on softer projects such as Centro-offshoot South San Gabriel and this, his full-length debut under his own name. Murder of Tides takes the sublime meditations of Centro-matic’s South San Gabriel Songs/Music and strips them down to Johnson and an acoustic guitar, with the occasional soft keyboard sustain. Matt Pence’s loose production leaves things lo-fi without crossing the line into “Lou B’s acoustic hiss” territory. Johnson’s raspy ruminations thrust like a knife, and Centro-sideman Scott Danborn’s guest mellotron work on the opening title track swirls like a giant foamy wave dissipating after daybreak. Johnson, always the master of high-vocab crypticism, frets and picks ominously about “all the viruses and dangers” of the “one-man bastard circus” and its “ambivalent decoys.” It’s somber stuff, drenched in the unfiltered epiphany of a song penned in a dingy motel room the day of the gig — which for Johnson is nothing short of the truth.
This article appears in November 1 • 2002.