Tim Kinsella, Crucifix Swastika EP

Wish we had a clearer picture of the cover but fuck it.

From what I can tell, prior reviews of this April 2005 release from Joan of Arc frontman Tim Kinsella have pretty much missed the point. From calling the title "downright stupid" [popmatters.com] to accusing Kinsella of "flaky lyrics and a forced artistic image," [prefixmag.com] the critics seem to pile insult on top of insult as if harboring some long-standing vendetta against the man. Maybe Tim has done some really lousy things like kick babies or shoot kittens with a .22, but when I found the record for $1.99 at the local hole-in-the-wall zines-in-the-corner record dungeon I figured it was worth the gamble, knowing nothing about it. It wasn't until after I had enjoyed every single one of the record's six tracks many times that I got online and saw how much critics had beaten the shit out of it.

Whatever the critics' explanation for their vendetta, it certainly doesn't come through in these songs. I could see how lyrics like, "True utopians must demand a religious heresy," or, "I'm not a robot barbarian," might get you all hot and wet, but vibe plays a large role in shaping how lyrics are to be understood, and clearly the mood of this record is non-threatening, mellow, andante. Kinsella's guitar playing and songwriting is stunning, and moments of real transcendence abound, like when he sings, "Flashes on and out over the water," in the opening track.

And of course the critics had a field day with the title, and of course the image on the cover of a smiling cross and a smiling swastika riding skateboards is going to jog the nervous system. But to act as though one knows what Kinsella is trying to say or to make the outrageous claim that he did this for shock value (an assertion which cannot possibly be known by anyone other than the artist himself) would cause you to miss the beauty and simplicity of the recording entirely. Might as well wear a blindfold and earmuffs and walk around yelling at mailboxes. You can't know what someone is trying to do with their music, and the world would be a lot better if we stopped attributing motive and just looked at the work for what it is: a bridge made out of Popsicle sticks, a piece of architecture, a moment in someone's life that they passed through long before you heard it. I, for one, like this record and hope people will look into it. It's pretty cheap and you can find out more about it here.

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