Eyes Adrift Review
CMJ New Music Monthly
October 2002
Review by Patrick Kennedy
Eyes Adrift is an exceptional
album, and it’s not surprising, given the outfit’s solid pedigree. Guitarist
Curt Kirkwood co-founded the Meat Puppets, the Arizona trio who poured ambling,
Grateful Dead-like country folk into American punk’s frothing mouth, and his
languorous psychedelic colors are painted in broad strokes across this disc.
Krist Novoselic, who many remember only as Nirvana’s lanky, slightly awkward
bass player, hints at why that band reached such peaks, revealing – again – his
innate value as a tendon between guitar and drums, as well as his gift for
tuneful arrangement. Threads of Nirvana’s bare-boned, scruffy melodies are
strewn throughout this debut. Beneath Novoselic’s lean bass and Kirkwood’s
spidery guitar, drummer Bud Gaugh’s (Sublime) polished, intricate chops explore
rhythmic patterns neither of the men up front visited with previous outfits.
Eyes Adrift leans heavily toward the Meat Puppets, with Kirkwood’s subdued vocals
accompanying his soaring Crazy Horse leads on the lion’s share of the album.
Novoselic’s clear and earnest desire to make music again shines through,
especially on the sad and creepy “Inquiring Minds,” whose repeated chorus,
“They put flowers on your grave/Jon Benet,” provides a heavyweight metaphor for
roads seen and taken by the band in previous band lives. They’ve all been
there, and Eyes Adrift, a stunning, haunting, collection of eclectic rock
songs, is all the more beautiful because of it.