Bry Webb – Provider

I was very disappointed when I heard the news at the 2010 Dawson City Music Festival that the Constantines were going to stop playing together indefinitely.

Standing among the crowd during one of their last performances together and watching frontman Bry Webb, in particular, I wondered whether I could feel the same about his songs absent the exhilarating intensity of the band’s music.

After spinning Webb’s new solo record, Provider (released this month on Idée Fixe), a few times I can say with some relief that while there’s nothing that makes me feel the way I do listening to “Young Lions”, for instance, it is an outstanding record precisely because the intensity is still there, albeit redirected.

On Provider, Webb’s raw delivery is the defining feature, amplified by a sparse sonic space that provides for a more intimate kind of intensity. At the risk of drawing on past material to situate the new, if you enjoyed “St. You” on the Constantines’ debut self-titled record, you’ll find a lot to love about these songs.

Listening to it I felt as though I was spying in on Webb playing in a fire-lit cabin surrounded by nothing but darkness outside and the burdens of the mind of a man in transition as company inside. Indeed, many of the songs on Provider seem to capture a man coming to terms with and eventually embracing the beginning of a new chapter in his life (themes of fatherhood and family abound, in particular). The end result is a record that is engagingly honest and hopeful.

Exactly what I’ve always loved about Webb’s songs.

As for the record itself, the packaging is terrific. The front of the jacket has stencilled text with the inner sleeve replicating the same pattern as on the cover. The effect of the layout is simple yet stunning.

I also have to commend Idée Fixe for providing a digital download card that permits a choice between mp3, Apple Lossless or FLAC. This is how it should be done but typically with most records you can only be hopeful of 320kbps mp3 files.

I do have one minor complaint though. This record (my copy, at least) has a lot of audible tics. Especially on sparse, quiet recordings such as this it is, in my view, imperative that the pressing be as quiet as possible–and this record is regrettably not. Unfortunately, this is an all too common problem with a lot of new vinyl these days.

Sadly, a lot of people seemed to have been duped into thinking that tics and pops are what vinyl is “supposed” to sound like rather than the result of sloppy and poor quality control at the pressing plant. Trust me, it doesn’t have to be this way. I have many records in my collection that are pressed on dead silent vinyl.

I’m not sure what pressing plant Idée Fixe uses but it has to be said that even the best, most reputable plants occasionally slip up when it comes to quality control. I’m willing to grant that this might be an exception and I certainly hope that’s the case here.