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Decomposure, "At Home and Unaffected"
Unschooled Records
It seems that Caleb Mueller just can't decide what kind of musician he wants to be. As Decomposure, he pinballs between singing pop songs in his basement and using household items to create experimental electronica (not just in his basement but his living room and kitchen, too). Despite the ingenuity, Decomposure has had difficulty finding a base audience mostly because of Mueller's refusal to adhere to one musical style: when he sits behind a piano and tries (not entirely unsuccessfully) to croon he alienates the electronic demographic; and when he bangs on pots and pans and records his cordless phone's beeping to make insane and frenetic beat sequences he loses the verse-chorus-verse set. But where At Home and Unaffected falls short in clarity, it shines in sheer sonic novelty, aided by Mueller's obvious and unbridled passion for making music his way. For the open-eared listener Mueller has crafted an ambitious and impressively creative mixture of both styles, with some further forays into spoken word and slam poetry and even some singer-songwriter guitar work. Don't let the stylistic wanderings fool you, as Mueller does have a purpose: strictly adhering to a rigid guideline (included in the liner notes), Mueller made At Home and Unaffected using (with a few minor exceptions) only sounds found in his home, sequenced with computer but not otherwise electronically altered in any way. He uses real instruments as the situation desires—guitar, piano, drums and even melodeon; he also is able to make sound out of household stuff, ranging from strums on rubber bands to whatever percussion he could glean from bathroom items. The liner notes, while detailed, are insufficient in explaining Mueller's method and are thankfully supplemented on Decomposure's website: one can read the explanations behind the more baffling songs in detail, including what Mueller used to make the sounds as well as the inspiration for the songwriting. The latter isn't merely agreeable-sounding fluff, either—Mueller tackles post-modern alienation (Center of the World) and modern-day religious hypocrisy (Disconnect) with equal verve. But as an album, At Home and Unaffected is flighty and disjointed—the rapid fire beats and glitches don't mesh well with the more melodious fare, and the listener is hard pressed to not be driven away (or crazy). Worst, some will dismiss Mueller's work as a gimmicky rather than ingenious. In a way, it is: ultimately, the idea wins out over the end result, as it proves to be more interesting to hear about a song crafted using the sonic residue from a Trivial Pursuit game than it is to hear the finished product. Still, Mueller has more going for him than novelty. He wins significant style points for creativity and method, and At Home and Unaffected isn't at all doomed to be background noise—the album's pop nuggets can surprise and delight, and the more manic electronic moments will challenge and amuse, especially rewarding those few who will bother to spin it more than once.
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