not an Airplane’s It Could Just Be This Place is essentially a cohesive album, although with only two songs it initially seems like it should be an EP or a sampler for a fuller work. Those two songs both, however, straddle the 15-minute mark, making the album just about the length of a typical LP. And although the songs are long, there are definitive sections in which the tone and style of the instrumentation and lyricism change. It’s as if the band recorded a normal album’s worth of songs, then jammed the first and second half into separate tracks and only used two titles. There are definite songs on the album, yet the beginnings and endings of those distinct sections blur together without giving the listener much of a chance to adjust or recover. Around the 8 min mark, for instance, the music fades and there’s a brief warbly sound— signifying an imminent shift in style. Sure enough, a twangy, woe-filled romp kicks in with quick bluegrass rhythms and pickings. But even though they’re expected, the many jumps and shift in style are so quick that they make it difficult to recall what the song sounded like a minute (or so) again.
The album is an experiment testing the patience of a generation of ADD-raddled music consumers. It could easily be split into seven or eight tracks, but then the listener could pick and choose from those different songs. Packing what could be several different tunes forces listeners to sit down like the good ol’ days, when an album’s tracks blended together in a specific, pre-planned order.
not an Airplane’s sound is also reminiscent of that time— when people actually would listen to albums in their entirety. It’s thoughtful and poignant alt-country that both respects its roots and considers how to push them forward.
As first track “Speak In,” finishes up, there’s a much-appreciated break, as if not an Airplane is hinting that this is where older listeners would have to get up and flip the record over. “Speak Out” picks right the album right back up with an ironically spiritual, gospel-style sing-a-long about a lack of faith (“no more beauty, grace or God in me”). And the ends and beginnings of obviously different sections occur yet again.
Whether or not forced-listening of the album in its entirety was the band’s intention, the unique organization of the album definitely worked on me. I sat down and listened to both songs from start to finish, and I enjoyed the album greatly.
