Zilch

Item: Platinum
Author: Bert Gangl

Platinum

(1997)

Reviewed by Bert Gangl

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Label Gotee RecordsThe LighthouseDecember 1997

alternative rock modern rock power pop ska

The fact that Zilch members Mark Townsend (guitars), Jason Halbert (keyboards) and Otto Price (bass) are a part of dc Talk's touring band has undoubtedly created a fair amount of curiosity over their debut release, Platinum. And one might reasonably assume that the music on the band's side project would sound at least somewhat similar to the newfound modern rock sound of their parent band. This may be true-at least in part-on songs like the album opener "Good," a straight-ahead rocker whose quirky melody line and unembellished drum sound give the song definite modern rock leanings, and on "Everything," with its tense, clean guitars playing against the same drum sound to give it a similar alternative feel.

But Zilch departs from such dc Talk sound-alike territory on the majority of the songs on this release. The staccato guitar riffs, rifling percussion and perky horns on songs like "Yeah" and "Into Heaven" give them a definite ska-like sound. The grungy guitar work that rides atop the more soulful groove of "Here We Go" resembles the retro-funk sound of groups like Reality Check. The passion of at least one of the band members would seem to be the vintage 60's psychedelic sound. With many of these songs boasting deliberate, nearly self-conscious, harmonies on the choruses, and the last word of each line on the chorus being held just a bit too long, these buoyant songs sound as if they might have been written in 1967 rather than some thirty years later.

Despite its diversity, though, the album does falter in more than one place. At least a couple of the songs that employ a more dissonant sound, ostensibly for artistic effect, instead come across as lumbering and grating. And although the vocal work is fairly impressive on the majority of the tracks, including the strained-but-on-key delivery (a la Robin Zander of Cheap Trick) on "In the Sky," the lyrical work is, for the most part, weak. The "life is hard but God is good" approach of "Into Heaven," "Yeah," and others come off a bit trite, especially given the modern rock vibe of much of the album. And the titles alone of songs like "Bap!" and "Surfer Psalm" hint that their audience would probably not be the same as that of lyrically more innovative groups like The Choir and Adam Again.

Still, in spite of its flaws, songs like the remade "Hero, Zero" from the Schoolhouse Rock television series, and the inclusion of several humorous outtakes from the recording sessions, infuse the project with a heaping dose of levity and joy. To be sure, the entire release sounds like the product of three men who genuinely enjoy what they do.