This album is about freedom. Sex finds its way in there, because sex is one of the greatest expressions of freedom we’ve got. But more importantly, this album is musically free. It’s difficult to put in words.

;

I’m staring at a topless woman. She has just left the edge of a dock—she has been pushed by another topless woman. The other topless woman has a towel loosely draped on her head. The first topless woman, the one that’s falling, she’s arching her back so that she can hit the water with some composure. But she’s, like, two feet away from the water. No way is that landing going to be graceful. But she’s smiling. Her entire near-naked body seems to be shining with the glee of a summer’s holiday. Her problem is not a problem, and her happiness is reflected in my happiness and, perhaps, all our happinesses.

My job is to explain to you why Throw Me The Statue’s [MySpace] Moonbeams, a near-solo embark of Scott Reitherman of Seattle, is a wonderful 50.1 minutes (iTunes has destroyed my sense of seconds) of music. If it isn’t clear, the first reason to buy this album is because of the two topless women on the cover. This isn’t a chauvinist thing; far from it. You likely won’t get any sexual satisfaction out of it. What you will get is a sense that the album you just bought isn’t being censored in any way. Like the breasts on the cover, it’s free. And free-sounding music is—irony of all ironies—one of the hardest things to come by in the later part of this decade.

Yes, this album is largely about sex. Titles like “Young Sensualists,” “Your Girlfriend’s Car,” and “This Is How We Kiss” are not exactly Reaganisms. But the sex portrayed on the album is hardly the fucking sort; this is playful, rhythmic, and soft-lit sex. It’s the same kind of sex that seems to emanate from indie rock en masse, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d suggest that Scott had been listening to a little too much Broken Social Scene. The rolling guitars and light drums don’t dissuade this theory, either.

But this album is about freedom. Sex finds its way in there, because sex is one of the greatest expressions of freedom we’ve got. But more importantly, this album is musically free. It’s difficult to put in words, but the semi-random swoops, dips, accelerations, out-of-nowhere falsettos, and fast-paced clapping sessions (at least in my head) all lead the listener (at least, me) to a place many sets of music don’t often arrive. I actually felt like I’d been on an improvised journey of the various facets of modern rock, and I’d been given all the various feelings one can experience, but at odd places. I didn’t necessarily feel excited at the crescendos, and I didn’t really feel down in the slow parts. Moonbeams left me tumbled, but in a way I appreciated and will ante up for again.

Vocally, Scott sounds like BSS alum Jason Collett, except he’s not trying to be a country singer. His voice is blanketed by fuzz, even though many of the instruments aren’t. It creates a cool split that would (I suppose) sound great in a phone ad. It’s all very catchy, and it’s all I’ve been able to listen to for the past 72 hours. Because of that, I might be biased. Reviewers never are the best people to get music advice from. Of course we like it; we wouldn’t be writing about something if we didn’t (at least in some way. I suppose people who give negative reviews for a living enjoy that, too).

Moonbeams is the kind of indie rock that one can have playing in nearly any situation, but it’s not one you can show to everyone. This is directly related to the topless girls. Your mom might like Feist, and might find the sounds of Throw Me The Statue acceptable, but don’t show her the album cover. It’s not “socially acceptable.” This, of course, makes it 1000 percent cooler, but you already knew that, didn’t you? Because even though you’re not buying this album for the cover (and should naturally never buy an album based on its cover, because that’s shallow and sheepish), it certainly doesn’t hurt when it’s really good. Somehow, acceptable-by-authority has never been a criticism of indie rock. Used to be, if your parents liked a band, they sucked. But Moonbeams won’t piss anyone off. It will make them happy, and it’ll make you happy. And if we’ve learned anything about the absolute takeover indie rock has had over the music scene in the last eight years, it’s that being genuine is far more enjoyable in the long term than being a rock star dick, even if that makes you less of a rock star (and, by extension, less of a rawker audience member), and that’s completely acceptable.

Score: 4/5

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