Doug Martsch, indie rock hero and head of Boise, Idaho’s Built To Spill, is in no hurry — be it on his wandering, weaving live show guitar solos or the release of his group’s latest album, “There Is No Enemy.”
He spent the last three-and-a-half years playing basketball on an outdoor junior high court and dabbled as a DJ. He toured and spent time with his family. And, he wrote, jammed in his garage and recorded. The product of the leisurely pace is his group’s seventh full-length album, which released Oct. 6 and follows up 2006’s much praised “You In Reverse.”
Heavy on dreamy imagery and Martsch’s distinct vocals, “There Is No Enemy” may be the band’s finest release in a decade. There are horns, rolling guitar riffs and overlaid vocals. There’s Martsch’s “oohs” and “ahhs” sprinkled with the steady drumming of Scout Plouf, Brett Nelson’s bass and the dueling guitars of Jim Roth and Brett Netson. And then there’s ballads “Life’s a Dream” and “Things Fall Apart,” reminiscent of the handy Pacific Northwest rock craftsmanship that put BTS’ “Car” in the ears of many a lovelorn teen and twentysomething during the 1990s.
Built to Spill
Where: 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW
When: 10 p.m. Oct. 17
Info: $25; 202-265-0930; 930.com
“Made 15 years fly by/Still here and I don’t know why,” goes “Nowhere Lullaby,” a possible nod to the durability of the group, which Martsch formed in 1992 with the intent of featuring revolving members each album, then rescinded and embraced the current lineup. “But everybody understands/We’re all doing what we can.”
Gone may be the Martsch of old that argued his lyrics had no particular meaning and were crafted solely to fit the track at hand.
“Pat we need your brains back/Pat we need your fire/and your imagination,” he cries on “Pat,” a tune likely celebrating the life of former Treepeople bandmate Pat Schmaljohn, lost to suicide. “The more you have to live for/The more you love your life/The harder it will be for you to die,” Martsch continues to croon on the album’s final track, “Tomorrow.”
The album’s title itself may stand as homage to the indie cred the group continues to enjoy, though their albums are released through a major label. Warner Bros. Records signed the group in 1995, and Martsch has retained much of the creative control through the five Warner-released albums.
Many BTS loyalists liken the soft-spoken Marstch to guitar great Neil Young, others claim he evokes Jimi Hendrix, Mississippi Fred McDowell or Robert Johnson.
“We get compared to all kinds of weird things, nothing’s very accurate,” he said in an interview.
In any case, the group’s following remains solid. The current tour to promote “There Is No Enemy” has included four consecutive nights in New York City, an appearance on “The Late Show with David Letterman” and a full slate of performances that will wind them west through the end of November.
“We have a bunch of records out. There’s no hurry for us to sell music,” Martsch recently said to Stereogum. “We can put out a record every five or six years, and that’s plenty of Built to Spill music. The world doesn’t need a new Built to Spill record every year.”
