Saint Sebastian Of The Short Stage Black Vinyl 10″
What a bizarre little EP. Franz Nicolay has recently cast off the travelling keys man schtick (he’s played in/with The Hold Steady, World Inferno Friendship Society, and The Loved Ones in the past year) and struck out on his own as of late. While I haven’t heard his solo debut, Major General, if it is as interesting as this 4-track release, I’m in.
Saint Sebastian Of The Short Stage begins with some spoken word banter between some members of The Dresden Dolls and Franz…stupid. Granted, it’s about how they are all from New England, but it seems forced and over-the-top. And the song itself is just a musical celebration of the geography and attitudes of New Englanders. It’s fun but a total throwaway. After this whimsical start, we have “The Ballad of Hollis Wadsworth Mason Jr.”, an excellent track about one of the central figures of Alan Moore’s Watchmen. It’s a great take on the character in the form of a song and the lyrics and music seem to perfectly evoke the time period in which Mason would have been a masked adventurer.
After this song, the record pulls a one-eighty and ends with two beautiful ballads. The delivery of the line “When the war came…” in the track of the same name bites right through and can induce chills. Nicolay sounds on both this and “I Just Want to Love” like a pianist playing a guitar, which makes for free-moving tunes that develop organically as they are played. The is also an excellent switch in tense in the middle of “When the War Came” that creates a significantly more personal story, as if the author is no longer writing about subjects, but about himself. “I Just Want to Love” closes this feels-longer-than-it-is listening experience on a very honest note as Nicolay ruminates about the life of a musician and how difficult it can be to find love.
All told, this is an odd release and shows some very diverse sides of Nicolay, who is often more associated with the bands he plays with rather than himself. If you enjoy the sounds of almost street performer type arrangements mixed with a hearty slice of melancholy, than this is for you. If your expecting the grandiose nature of other Nicolay projects, I would steer clear.
Label: Team Science
I am such a sucker for well-played pop/punk. If you would have told me ten years ago that I would still be listening to this stuff at the old age of 29, well, I would have probably smiled and said I hope so. 
