When discussing the most influential and relevant people in modern alternative music, the name of Jim O'Rourke can never be far from the lips of any serious music fan. In addition to his own solo records and his work with David Grubbs in Gastr Del Sol, one only has to look at the quality and breadth of his collaborators (Smog, Stereolab, John Fahey, Fennesz) to see why he is held in such high regard by his peers. A true musical maverick, his impressive career spans many genres and then some; from laptop ambient to improvised jazz to alternative rock, he has had considerable success at whatever he has tried his hand at. 2001's "Insignificance", the third in his trio of records named after Nicolas Roeg films (after Bad Timing and Eureka), was a pretty radical departure from his previous work, and followed on from the shift towards a more conventional sound hinted at on his earlier EP "Halfway to a Threeway". The addition of Jeff Tweedy and Glenn Kotchke from fellow Chicagoans Wilco as part of his backing band this time around obviously played a large part in this, as this is the first of O'Rourke's albums to feature his vocals on every track, and the addition of a full band resulted in rousing and immediate guitar rock of the highest order, with touches of his trademark production magic sprinkled throughout the lean seven tracks. O'Rourke also showed himself to have a surprisingly deft lyrical touch, with witty, sarcastic lines such as "If I seem to you just a little bit remote/you'd feel better if you call me a misanthrope/or whatever floats your boat/as for me, I'd rather sink my own" or "Memory Lame's" humorously nasty "Listening to you/ reminds me of a motors endless drone/and why the deaf are so damn lucky" examples of his wry, tongue-in-cheek style. O'Rourke has a fragile, distinctive voice which contributed to the record's reflective mood, and added a layer of poignancy to the crunching rock of tracks like "Therefore I Am" and "All Downhill From Here", resulting in an indie rock record of great warmth and subtlety. It's just a shame then, that since this album's release, O'Rourke has yet to release a follow up, instead preferring to work with the likes of Sonic Youth (revitalising the band in the process), Beth Orton and Joanna Newsom, before taking an indefinite hiatus to concentrate on his ambition to be a filmmaker. Let's hope it doesn't last.
http://www.mediamax.com/dirkmcsteel/Hosted/03%20Therefore,%20I%20Am.mp3- "Therefore I Am" (mp3)
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