Saturnhead - Introducing...Arizona's Thin Mistake (1997, Resolution)

Ok, so here we have 43 songs clocking in at around a grand total of 58 minutes. No, this isn't the product of some frantic hardcore brigade, or even a frivolous, tossed-off audio experiment. Saturnhead was the brainchild of a very prolific Vancouverite lad named Terry Miles, who had the good fortune of Guided By Voices' Bee Thousand falling into his lap a couple years before he hemmed together the three dozen-and a half tracks that comprised his jewel box debut, Introducing...Arizona's Thin Mistake. And he did it virtually all on his own I might add. While Robert Pollard and Tobin Sprout's early-to-mid '90s aesthetic may have seemingly been the principle germ for Terry's inspiration, Introducing's... fidelity isn't quite as lo as one might expect despite the vast majority of this disk being committed to 4-track. Truth be told, GBV's melodic sensibilities imbue only but a fraction of the songs here (with the title track and "Perfect Bliss Again" evoking the most obvious antecedents). Granted, titles like "Hail the Binkeepers" and "A Fast Airship Gazebo" would turn Pollard the greenest shade of envy, but while Terry's brand of songcraft may share his predecessor's brevity the creative process is demonstrably different. Introducing... does lose a little steam as it winds to a close, but there's comparatively little chaff to be separated from the wheat as they say.

Terry would record another Saturnhead album, Saturnhead, CA,which followed a more conventional (and in my opinion less engaging) path. In 2000, our man christened himself with a new assumed moniker, Ashley Park for a series of releases, but these days, Terry has made a name for himself via Cinemanovel, his independent film company based in British Columbia. As another quick aside, prior to his solo work, there was Cinnamon, a power pop band he fronted, who one enthusiastic listener likened to as "The Canadian Redd Kross." Maybe an upload of that one a little later, if another blog hasn't caught up to me already that is. 

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