It's Funny How the Colors, by Log Across the Washer

It's Funny How the Colors

by Log Across the Washer

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1.	Plates of Grass 02:53	buy track
2.	Lonely Bill 03:14	buy track
3.	Ok Dorks 02:55	buy track
4.	It's Funny How the Colors 01:09	buy track
5.	Listen to Xasthur 02:02	buy track
6.	Stupid Guitar, Pt. 1 & 2 03:47	buy track
7.	Simulation Saturday 03:42	buy track
8.	Scary Dreams, Pt. 1 00:41	buy track
9.	Over My Head 03:05	buy track
10.	Haggard Affairs 02:20	buy track
11.	Grab the Clocks Boys 03:11	buy track
12.	Arguably Never Recorded from the Season 03:01	buy track
13.	Arizona 02:11	buy track
14.	Oregon 02:21	buy track
15.	My Brother is a Disaster 02:13	buy track
16.	Them Old Stuff Inside the Well 03:50	buy track

about

Music being made with an absolute indifference to commercial viability has been a feature of the cultural landscape for decades. But there’s still an undeniable thrill that bubbles up whenever the algorithm or the universe serves up art that is idiosyncratic, deeply personal, and uncompromising.

That’s the dominant feeling drawn out through each listen to It’s Funny How The Colors, the latest effort from Tyler Keene’s Log Across The Washer project. Self-produced and self-recorded in the humble practice space that Keene rents in Bushwick and in his South Orange, New Jersey basement, the album is a woozy and melodic collection of unbound pop that drifts from clattering blues to sunburst synths. It’s the rare album that feels both thoughtfully considered and entirely ad-libbed.

“I find it really fun to create without the guardrails that exist if you think too hard,” Keene says. “I’m definitely more of a ‘first idea’ kind of writer. Just run with it and don’t question too much. It’s more about the excitement in the process than the finished product. I get so much joy out of creating something new.”

In some ways, that’s the mode that Keene has retained throughout his solo career. After two years with beloved Portland ensemble And And And, he spent his time self-releasing sprawling collections of improvisations and rough song ideas, with a few fully fleshed out compositions for good measure. Keene has continued the practice since relocating to the East Coast, dabbling in a bit of ECM-style jazz explorations along the way and, in 2018, accepting a challenge to record 20 songs in one day.

It was the latter project that pulled Keene back into making music, after a long break that found him selling off much of his equipment. But as he tapped back into the creative portion of his brain, he gave into the call to keep writing. Since that inspiring session, Keene has knocked together dozens of songs, many constructed in long, all-day sessions. The 16 tracks that make up It’s Funny How The Colors are just a surface scratch.

Hearing this material should only amplify the excitement for future Log Across The Washer releases. Keene’s well-honed ear for grabby hooks and melodies is on display throughout on gems like “Lonely Bill” and “Over My Head.” His arrangements are the sort that appear simple and straightforward on first blush, but that reveal remarkable depth through multiple listens. For what may appear at first to be a scattershot collection, Keene has crafted something remarkably cohesive and dynamic.

“I was trying to be in the character of this middle-aged guy that’s never recorded or learned to play an instrument, who then decides they want to make an album,” Keene says. “There’s no doubt about it in their mind. They’re not critical of their own work, and it’s not really with the intention of going any further. It was just about the work.”

-Robert Ham

"[Keene's] output capped out sometime around the middle of the last decade after releasing five annually-timed records stuffed to the brim with catchy, roughshod songs. The key to such prolificacy is the ability to look past perfection and tune into the gut, and It’s Funny How The Colors leans even further into that approach. Little on it sounds overwrought or overthought, and much feels inspired by the psychonauts of pop’s past, like Syd Barrett’s whimsy or Avey Tare’s ferocity. It’s stranger than anything he’s put out before, which is why it signals growth." -The Tape Deck

"Throughout It's Funny How the Colors, Keene whips up a universe of ramshackle folk built for porch gazing as much as drifting through your own recollections of the past. The tape is never a bummer, although there's a hushed energy (in its lyrics) of accepting the present for what it is." -Post-Trash

"...tiny wonders that highlight the mysterious impulses which propel them forward." -Beats Per Minute

"An off-kilter delight." -Spill Magazine

"...[a] bent pop nugget." -Beehive Candy

"...off kilter and minimal." -Take Effect

Artwork by D. Norsen
www.dnorsen.com

Mastering by Angel Marcloid
www.angelhairaudio.com

credits

released November 12, 2021

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Crash Symbols Morgantown, West Virginia

Est. 2010

"Your decency remains unimpaired, your virility unharmed, your person is free from any degrading submission, but in your hand is a tambourine." -Seneca

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