Release Date: April 12, 2011
Guilty Rainbow, the third LP from pop outfit Roommate, is an understated but ambitious album that centers around themes of personal breakthroughs and examination.
What began as something of a bedroom project for Chicago-based artist Kent Lambert has become more than just a minor venture. After almost a decade of different iterations, Roommate has settled into a nice quartet composed of Lambert, bassist/vocalist Gillian Lisée, drummer Seth Vanek and multi-instrumentalist Luther Rochester.
This added musical muscle does wonders for Guilty Rainbow, an album that boasts an eclectic mix of sounds. There’s the sleepy yet Carribean-flavored “August Song,” the jazzy “Soft Eyes” and the art-poppy “After the Boom.”
From a structural standpoint, “After The Boom” is the album’s most inventive track. Starting slow, the song builds to a kind of quiet crescendo for the final third. It’s one of the most playful moments in Roommate’s catalog.
Lambert deserves credit for finding a formula that works. But as in-command as he is, his presence on the album can be somewhat overbearing. His vocal qualities, which range from flighty to brooding, can make or break a song. On “LDS,” for example, his rangy cadence doesn’t quite suit the industrial sounds provided by the band. The end result sounds something like Ben Gibbard singing an old Nine Inch Nails song.
Lyrically, however, Lambert paints a far more engaging picture as he asks such maudlin—but no less intriguing—questions as, “Did your God imprison you/When he envisioned you?” (“LDS”) and, “And if you’re someone who wants to be alone/What do you do when you’re not at home?/Where do you go when there are people everywhere you go?” (“Ghost Pigeon”).
Lambert’s good at asking questions. That he doesn’t really come up with any answers is sort of the point. Guilty Rainbow is an album rich with introspection, which is Lambert’s best asset as an artist.
Sometimes he’s uncomfortably honest. On the album’s best track, “Ghost Pigeon,” he proclaims, “I am stubborn and petty,” and, “I am not ready/For whatever it is you are trying to teach me.”
Still, these moments rarely take away from the wry pop sensibility that permeates the album. Guilty Rainbow is effortlessly listenable, despite its weighty subject matter.
The album culminates with the penultimate “Soft Eyes,” a six-minute track that provides the biggest insight into Lambert’s quest for self-discovery. Lyrically, he seems to spin in circles, but what could be construed as meandrous is a freeform approach to the typical verse-chorus-verse composition.
Not that Lambert is trying to be reinvent the wheel—in fact, he remains dedicated to a number of standard pop techniques throughout Guilty Rainbow. There are no aces up his sleeves, no gimmicks or portentous parlor tricks. Lambert is interested in pure expression.
As he calls out, “Make me someone good,” to a nameless entity toward the end of “Soft Eyes,” it’s evident that self-discovery is the biggest part of his expression.
Roommate – Guilty Rainbow Tracklist:
- “My Bad”
- “August Song”
- “Flicker Flame”
- “The Country with a Smile”
- “LDS”
- “Ghost Pigeon”
- “Snow Globe”
- “After the Boom”
- “Soft Eyes”
- “Smothered in Hugs”
