Rating: 5.3/10Chris Walla's background with Death Cab For Cutie and his resume as a musician speak for itself. As part of the indispensable "Death Cab", Walla honed his guitar talents and backup vocals to aid their success. Of course the mighty Ben Gibbard, whose voice is likened by masses of teens and avid indie rock fans accross the 50 states and then some, may overshadow his notoriety. But it's a fact: Gibbard is the lead singer, Walla is not; and up until now, besides a few songs here in the lo-fi We Have The Facts… and a few other stranded songs, we really had no idea of how well he could sing. Field Manual was the true test.
After much work in the past year recovering his hard drive, which captured the gist of his album, Walla frustrated reported to several news stations about the pointless setback, which had restricted him from carrying all of his finished music from Canada to the U.S. But all the drama aside, the bigger story was the Walla was breaking out from Death Cab For Cutie on a freelance project named Field Manual. With not much outside help, the project involved Chris Walla on everything but drums, thanks to Jason McGerr (DCFC) and Kurt Dahle (New Pornographers). When the release date of Walla's first solo record was pushed further and further back, more attention grew as many awaited to see what he could offer. Just as any side project from a beloved band does (see River's Cumono), Walla's sidestep was blown way out of proportion from the get-go.
To no avail, the album did create much hype surrounding Walla, and was pushed even further when DCFC announced their latest would be released in on May 13th, but Field Manual didn't come through as expected, and once again, the fan hype got the best of another indie album. With few songs notable enough to be discussed, "Geometry & C", "Two-Fifty" and "It's Unsustainable" are the only noteworthy songs from this album.
"Two-Fifty"'s mellow opening is the perfect track as the first track. But nothing of the same caliber follows when we hear "The Score" soon after. I thought Walla did great with his subdued, lower-cased vocals enter from the get go, but once his voice is raised, the song turns from a DCFC rock song, to a strained, and overly sophisticated assembly. Perhaps the intent was for this to be the album's rock anthem, but the truth is, aside from the meat of the music, I couldn't get past Walla's vocals.
It wasn't until I listened to "Geometry & C" that I thought the album showed some promise. Perhaps it was an album that dropped off in the beginning, and then rose to a palatable plateau of the melodies we loved in "A Lack of Color" (Transatlantacism). At this point, very few melodies were carried over from what we knew of DCFC, so let's throw that out the window. Walla has shown here, that his style is not overly opposite of what the band sounds like as a whole, but his individual style didn't mesh like that of a band, which has been putting their heads together for many years prior to this album.
A prime example of this lack of outside influence is "Archer v. Light". The high notes aren't hit, the guitar is bland and it's all too predictable. The overall composition initially appears to be directionless, yet very single-minded, with the high notes again being the sore spot. Many songs like this on FA lack any intrinsic value; there are no songs that are relative to the listener, openly relatable or even obtuse enough to capture attention.
What saves this album is the bright spots where Walla favors to his guitar niche - like the ambient, sullen lullaby traction that carries so much emotion alongside Gibbard's vocals in "Tiny Vessels" (to name one of many). "It's Unsustainable" marked a song, which I could picture Gibbard stepping in. The song reminds me of DCFC's twelve-minute version of "Stability", where life slows down, and the melodies come in. If you're looking for the same song style, you may also want to consider listening to "Holes".
Walla has found his resting spot in these mellow areas of the album, and although the upbeat, alternative style to his glitzier songs is desired by producers in order to make a popular-selling album, most or all of those songs should have been weeded out on this album. Other than the vocals and lack of interest in more than half of these songs, I also realized that there was one other perk I had not quite figured out until a few listens through. In the end, once I got past the music, I noticed the lyrics were quite capable of supplying more juice to each song and in fact gave the album a hint of delight. The downside was none of these lyrics hit me from the start, and took me about 10 listens before I could finally get past a few of the songs.
Overall, this album was a disappointment; a decent first effort, but ultimately nothing to pass on to your friends. Walla's talent does not show here, and it’s inevitable for him to make some giant leaps if he does try for a second solo effort. He is the producer of Death Cab For Cutie, and it goes without saying, in the case of Field Manual, there is much to be done when it comes to his own work.
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