Self Titled
REGULAR

reviewed by fin

Regular is the musician alter ego of Seattle based singer/songwriter John Kieltyka. While this moniker certainly leaves the door wide open for pun-intended critique, it would be unfair to go straight for the jugular on this one. Regular is a relatively straight forward pop rock sounding affair, so much so that the term "singer/songwriter" doesn't necessarily apply. The album sounds like a band performed the songs, which is a high compliment as most singer/songwriters get stuck playing with passionless studio burn-outs who manage to make every sound on the recording conventionally lifeless. Conversely, Regular's self-titled release pulses with band energy. As Kieltyka is prone to pen up-tempo, jangly rock songs, his band not only keeps up, but provides much of what is good about the record.

The album contains a couple of hooky moments, especially the guitar line that ties the infectious "Mindreader" together or the Leslie-amped organ on "Tyrone." Chalk "Huffer" up to too much paint thinner; the harmonica sounds exactly like the exhaling of the activity, forlorn, high, and messy, adding a much needed lift to the descending chord progression. Although it's inaccurate to describe Kieltyka as a happy-go-lucky dude, his songs tend to work better when his slow-motion melodies are set to a backdrop of power pop ("Talk Me Down") instead of juke-box lullabies. The sentiments of "Sin of Pride" are some of the best on the entire record, but the razor sharp couplet of "It don't seem a great reward/To be lonely and ignored in New York" in "Orthodox"is an example of something that happens repeatedly throughout the listen. Because of Kieltyka's bed-time story inflection and cadence, many of the songs start to fade to white, slipping away from one's attention. But Kieltyka always pulls you back in with a great lyric or pop hook until listening to Regular becomes much akin to being perpetually on the verge of falling asleep without ever fully losing consciousness.

What Regular lacks most are dynamics within the songs themselves. An intro-skip preview of the album would suggest many different variants on the pop rock genre, yet somehow the music bleeds together like watercolors on a palate: the outlines of differentiating color are still apparent, but it is difficult to distinguish where one color ends and another begins. To un-blur these lines would take Regular a step above.

Genre: Emo/Americana/Power Pop
Released: 2003
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