Mangled

Massachusetts singer/songwriter Steve Westfield debuted with a collection of sly and frantic songs on Mangled. "Missing" starts off the disc, ranging from gentle guitar-picking to a rousing, rock-fueled section in the middle of the song, with a guitar solo by the Pixies' Joey Santiago. The title track is next, a purposefully sloppy and relaxed folk song. The mixture of the frantic bassline and the crazy wah-wah guitar at the beginning of "Crummy Little Town" makes it clear to the listener that this album is not the work of a traditional musician. Westfield seeks to break the rules every chance he can get, pushing hard to make the music powerful and complementary to his dry and direct lyrics. The soulful harmonica on "Free & Lonely" brings a new ingredient to the mix, as the mood of the album grows increasingly somber. Buffalo Tom's Chris Colburn and Sebadoh's Lou Barlow add instrumentation to one of the most howling ballads of this period of indie rock, "Alone at Last." That song is quickly followed by the silliest track of the disc, "Clappy Birthday," consisting entirely of handclaps. The mood soon becomes murky again, as Westfield sings the blues over a variety of instruments, including slide guitar, clarinet, recorder, and bongo. The music borders on a hard rock sound on "Electrocute Me," before the simple guitar chords of "Life Goes On," a heartfelt and optimistic epic. Mangled was recorded entirely in Massachussetts and was released in 1994 on BIB Records.