If things had gone differently in the life of Bob Massey, we wouldn't be discussing his work as front man of The Gena Rowlands Band. "If I had it all to do over again, I would definitely choose to be a painter. It seems like a much more brutal art than music, at least business-wise, but I love it so much".
This kind of talk shouldn't be a surprise to anyone familiar with Massey's lyrics, which, in broad expressionistic strokes, create stark landscapes to showcase the inner struggles of the brokenhearted, the tormented and the fuck-ups of the world. It also shouldn't come as a surprise when looking at the fascinating and evocative artwork that complements each Gena Rowlands Band CD. For the latest album, Flesh and Spirits, Massey commissioned a photographer to help capture a beautiful woman's "sense of mystery; because women are so mysterious and fascinating. That was a theme to this record. Many of the songs have to do with the mysterious in the world and how we are all trying to sort through it and come to some answers that you can live with".
Most of the mystery found in Massey’s songs concerns the fairer sex, whether it is trying to figure out what goes on in the mind of the beautiful girl behind the bar (“Flesh and Spirits”) or marveling in a waitress’ stride (“God and the Way Women Walk”). It is the line in the latter of those two songs, “God is the way women walk,” that is the fulcrum of this heady record, according to Massey. “I find women and God to be metaphors for each other on a certain level. I think that the way that men relate to women is the same way that we as a species relate to God or the idea of God”.
As you may have guessed by now, Massey does not think in small terms on his records. The previous two Gena Rowlands efforts (La Merde et Les Etoiles from 2005 and the companion piece to an opera written about Massey’s grandparents, 2006’s The Nitrate Hymnal) were filled with long, expansive meditations on life and love, or as Massey refers to them, “extended form pieces”. For the latest album, however, he decided to create something “more inviting for listeners. The whole record was an exercise in focus and trying to write magical pop songs”.
To help craft these songs, Massey returned to his native D.C. (he recently emigrated to L.A.) and enlisted the help of several of that area’s best musicians, including ex-Dismemberment Plan members Eric Axelson and Jason Caddell as well as Vin Novara, the former drummer for the Crownhate Ruin. Together, the group concocted gorgeous beds of sound with nods to late-60s R&B and modern day electronica, gently moving from verse to chorus with assuredness and calm.
Although the Gena Rowlands lineup has shifted throughout its early incarnations, Massey is hoping to finally find a steady band to play with in L.A. and, after an aborted effort to tour to SXSW and back, is attempting to take his show to the East and West coasts before the end of the year. Beyond that, though, his ideas for the future of the band are relatively hands off. “I remember an interview I read with John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats where someone asked him what the secret to his success was and he said, ‘I gave up’. I thought that said it perfectly. I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing and not get caught up in the weird rat race of music, trying to shove a CD in everyone’s hands.”
~ Bob Ham
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THE GENA ROWLANDS BAND' FLESH AND SPIRITS is released April 10th on Lujo Records.
http://www.lujorecords.com
http://www.genarowlandsband.com
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