Album Review: No. 2

[LOST PORTLAND ROCK] At some point, Elliott Smith fans burn through his all-too-finite discography and wind up at Heatmiser's last album, Mic City Sons. What that record makes clear is that, despite Smith's later deification, he and Heatmiser bandmate Neil Gust left equal impressions on one another. No Memory, the 1999 debut from Gust's post-Heatmiser project, No. 2, is even more fascinating in that, despite Smith's relative absence, slabs of it could be sold on the indie-rock black market as B-sides from XO. "Move It Along" is a Smithian waltz, seasick and punctuated by Beatles-style drum fills. But even more explosive songs like "Pop in C" and the punky "Nobody's Satisfied" share a striking resemblance. Gust's lyrics, his melodic nods to power-pop and Brit-pop idols, and especially that voice, all feel hauntingly close to Smith's work of the same era (Smith mixed the record and does some backing vocals), begging questions of just what each musician learned from the other. Regardless, No Memory is a fantastic record that has aged beautifully, tangled up as it may be in Smith's mythology. Sixteen years later, neither songwriter is releasing new music. We lost Smith to depression, and Gust to an ad firm. Here's hoping the latter gets back in the studio.

WWeek 2015