Soul Asylum
Let Your Dim Light Shine (Columbia)
by Marc Hirsh
Soul Asylum
Let Your Dim Light Shine (Columbia)
by Marc Hirsh
originally published in the Public News, August 2, 1995
The sound of a band panicking at its popularity, Let Your Dim Light Shine shows what happens when Dave Pirner concentrates on his weaknesses. His lyrics are mostly too clever to be anything but the work of a potentially dumb guy who wants to be seen as smart. The stream-of-consciousness ramble of "String Of Pearls" tries to show the Interconnectedness of Everything, but all it really does is mention a nun, a hooker and Siamese twins who end up as the President of the United States.
Other lyrics succeed in undermining whatever musical merits might be present here. "Just Like Anyone" rocks just fine, if you can get past the image of a girl wishing for acceptance while perched over a latrine. The rousing chorus of "Misery" almost helps the listener forget the strained (but, depending on my mood, occasionally successful) metaphor of love-as-industry. Most songs benefit from having their words ignored.
Few of the tracks feature the band and nothing but the band. Organ and piano are added to nearly every track, giving the album a forced classic feel. The result (or maybe the cause) is that many of the songs sound and feel like country tunes. Nothing wrong with that, except it feels fake, as if their hearts aren't in it.
This isn't a bad, misguided or even incompetent album. I could look for the reasons, but I won't. I don't care if this is a transitional album or if Winona's been feeding Pirner bad hamburgers or what have you. Soul Asylum took a chance at solidifying their popularity and it may well pay off.