Michael McGlennon
tIME mACHINES
Independent michaelmcglennon.bandcamp.com
These songs were born from grief. It’s the unwelcome ingredient that makes Eels’ Electro-Shock Blues so memorable, and this solo record from Bravery Cat’s Michael McGlennon has much in common with that 1998 album. The death of a bandmate, as well as of his idol Daniel Johnston, has pushed McGlennon in a strange and insular direction, propelling tIME mACHINES into the weird, cerebral landscape that Chad VanGaalen’s music also inhabits. McGlennon’s voice sounds buried — like he’s reaching out from a distance — but these tunes eventually find a way to shimmer. The cassette copy of tIME mACHINES (complete with self-described “sexually explicit comics”) is a gorgeous package.