The album begins with a somber speech; with just a few words we are once again reminded that war really is, “a brutal desecration of [a person's] memory.” As electronic beats and clarinet fill in the spaces between the syllables we know that this album is for real. Not many artists are able to pull off what Tom Filepp has with his latest release Rusty String. This Portland based project features Filepp as he plays each instrumental part on his own. This is comparable to other artists such as Elliott Smith, or Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. Unlike Smith and Reznor, Filepp takes his classic acoustic guitar sound and mixes it with electronics. This produces a very unusual sound, but as it stutters and pops through the headphones you will realize that this is actually really well put together. Every song on this album is political. Touching many political issues with smart lyrics and hopeful undertones. It is as if Filepp is trying to bring us out of this clouded mind state and getting us to focus on what is really important. The only down side to this album is that it slows down a bit too much after the second track and doesn't pick up again until the sixth. On the other hand some of the best songs I have heard this month have been off of this album, which include “The Wires From My Broken Record Player,” “Painting over it did no good/ Solitary bird,” and “The Sky is Clear.” On the track “The Sky is Clear” the album complete changes to hip hop/rap for this one song. With the help of Alexander Chen and Sole, Filepp mixes folk and rap just as well as he mixed his acoustic, and electric sounds. All of this comes out flawlessly, which is remarkable for his first record.
