Have Gun, Will Travel
Science from an Easy Chair
Reviewed by: Max Miller
Science from an Easy Chair is the fifth full-length by Floridian folk-rockers Have Gun, Will Travel. It’s named for a book on then-contemporary science that made for common reading material for British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew during their 1914-16 landmark expedition to Antarctica. The album celebrates the oft-forgotten adventurer, hailing his “Spirit of Discovery,” which, in spite of satellite documentation of basically the entire planet, still pops up now and again these days, like when, say, NASA manages to snap a photo of Pluto. The pioneer spirit of Shackleton and other notable explorers such as Jacques Cousteau or Robert Ballard is clearly analogous to that of rambling troubadours like Woodie Guthrie and Pete Seeger, who have clearly left their imprint upon Have Gun, Will Travel and their contemporaries.
However, the fit may be too perfect. Images of Shackleton’s exploits do little to distinguish Science from an Easy Chair from any other modern folk-rock record one might hear on their local NPR station. Most tracks bear soaring, optimistic choruses, often replete with “woah-ohs” or “nah-nahs” galore. The slide guitars, upbeat drums and immaculate vocal harmonies all turn up right where anybody who likes to stomp along to Mumford and Sons would expect them. Banjos, horns, strings and rustic samples flit in and out predictably. The tunes are all plenty catchy and lovingly produced, but the end result is an album which, despite the promise of its premise, fails to stand out in basically any regard.
Rating: Listenable
