Album Review - Gordon Withers - Jawbox on Cello: A Benefit for Cal Robbins
Gordon Withers
Jawbox on Cello: A Benefit for Cal Robbins
(unsigned/self-release)
Listen if you love/avoid if you hate: Apocalyptica, Rasputina, Jawbox
Rating: 4/5 stars
Gordon Withers is certainly not the first cellist to wander out of the chamber orchestra and into modern rock. There have been dozens of mediocre string quartet tributes to bands from Depeche Mode to Radiohead. An exception to the mediocrity, Finnish quartet Apocalyptica made a case for cello rock with their outstanding cello arrangements of songs by Metallica. Withers’ current project, Jawbox on Cello, will elicit inevitable comparisons to Apocalyptica, but after seven listens to his 12-track tribute, Gordon is up to the challenge.
Each song, arranged and performed in four parts by Withers, illuminates the melodic complexity hidden behind the guitar distortion and feedback in the original Jawbox recordings. The arrangements also demonstrate the cello’s amazing range and Gordon’s mastery of it; he rumbles on the bass clef, howls and shrieks in treble and serves up a throbbing rhythm section.
With many string arrangements of popular music, familiarity with the original work is requisite to appreciation, but this isn’t necessarily the case with Jawbox on Cello. While most of the arrangements remain almost meticulously true to the original rendition—his take on ”Motorist” even maintains the bullet-mic effect in its opening bars—Wither’s best moments are when he diverges from the original composition.
For example, “Consolation Prize,” the arrangement that strays most from the Jawbox version, is one of the strongest. It’s a beautiful, minimalist piece with the most “classical” sound on the album. A close listen reveals soft, sweet breathing between the silences, giving the eerie impression that the cello is a living, breathing organism. The effect is subtle but strangely moving. Unfortunately, this piece feels slightly out of place, though it is my favorite. That aside, each arrangement follows the one before it perfectly.
In addition to being a beautiful musical tribute to an under-appreciated 90s-era band, Jawbox on Cello: A Benefit for Cal Roberts is also a charity album, the proceeds of which go toward a fund for Callum Robbins, son of Jawbox found J. Robbins. Cal was diagnosed with Type 1 spinal muscular atrophy and, with the help of the fund, Cal will celebrate his second birthday, an age most children with Type 1 SMA never reach. Nevertheless, Cal is certainly not out of the woods. If Jawbox songs on cello aren’t your cup of tea, but you would still like to read about Cal’s story and how you can help, follow this link to Cal’s page on the DeSoto Records (The Dismemberment Plan, Channels, Edie Sedgwick) website.
-Amber Aldrich
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