By Donzig
It really says something about the impact a band has made when you can remember the first time you heard them and which song it was. The Reds, Pinks & Purples, the solo project of veteran San Francisco auteur Glenn Donaldson, entered my musical awareness during the COVID pandemic in 2020 and the song was "A Kick in the Face (That's Life)". This track features sardonic lyrics reminiscent of Morrissey accompanied by layered guitars providing a sublime background and it caught my ear instantly.
You Might be Happy Someday, the second record by The Reds, Pinks & Purples, came out on vinyl a few months later. At 8 songs and 24 minutes it's either a long EP or a very short album. Either way this collection of angsty songs with deceptively shining guitar notes became my favorite release of 2020, and a bright spot in a bleak year.
Issuing a string of releases on the Slumberland Records label, Donaldson continued to refine his sound. His total ouput equals about three full albums per year and it truly is hard to keep track of everything. Further confusing the matter is that all of his releases, including the albums, feature Donaldson's own photographs taken in his San Francisco neighborhood with no title or band name on the cover; it's hard to say which cover is which, and with his massive output, a few critics even say the same thing about the songs themselves. Since his frequent releases end up competing with each other for attention & airplay, and are reasonably priced on Bandcamp, it is apparent that Glenn is not doing this for the money. Rather, he puts out the songs to express his feelings and impressions to the world. (He has indicated in an interview that he continues to hold a day job at a San Francisco non-profit.)
I was very pleased to see him and his band open for Destroyer in Baltimore in 2023. He came out after the show to talk to a few of us who hung around. A very shy and humble person, he seemed genuinely touched by the story of how I first heard "A Kick in the Face" three years earlier and its effect on me. When I complimented his distinctive guitar sound, he made a self-deprecatory remark, something like "Yeah, it all sounds the same." (Perhaps he'd heard that feedback from critics?) His favorite format for music listening? Vinyl, of course. Despite all his recordings famously being made at home in his kitchen on a laptop, he said he mixes them specifically for vinyl, therefore the extra money many of us spend on his records is not wasted. When it came up that I'd also been able to meet Lloyd Cole years before, he perked up considerably. "Oh, I like Lloyd Cole," he said. I mention this because Rattlesnakes-era Cole might be a better reference point in understanding Donaldson's vocal style than Morrissey. The latter has an excitable, histrionic style and persona, whereas Lloyd and Glenn both come off as earnest singer-songwriters and honest observers of their surroundings.
On this latest release, Unwishing Well, Donaldson's lyrics are as always about hopes, dreams and fears, lives and loves that sometimes end in frustration and once in a while come to fruition. In other words, the things that matter most in life. For example, from the first single and album highlight "Your Worst Song is Your Greatest Hit": "Your best ideas got watered down/only the worst parts could be found... I know it's shameful to admit/Your worst song was your greatest hit/Why is it always the worst song?"
Because Glenn is a muscian, not a poet, the instrumental backing tracks are equally important to establishing a mood. The Red, Pinks & Purples songs use techniques such as electric guitar solos floating dreamily in the background, brief chords for punctuation between verses, acoustic 12-string strumming, the occasional keyboard, and even simulated strings now and then. But the songs always seem to have a warm, cozy sound that is surprising for all-digital recordings. And this is true on all the band's albums. He really meant it when he said he mixed the recordings for vinyl.
Other standout tracks on Unwishing Well include: the album opener, "What's Going on with Ordinary People?" which features lyrics lamenting increased tension and pessimism in society, and some very nice acoustic 12-string work by Donaldson, building to an understated electric crescendo; "Dead Stars in Your Eyes", a song of existential dread yet one which does seem to hold out hope; and the album closer "Goodbye Bobby", a wistful instrumental ode to a departed friend, which provides a properly somber, dirge-like coda for The Reds, Pinks, & Purples album.
[Kenixfan: "Goodbye Bobby" sounds A LOT like Felt to my ears, with Donaldson doing his best Maurice Deebank on this one.]
One more bit from my brief conversation with Glenn Donaldson last year: When asked if he had a favorite album from his catalog, he reponded, "Whatever one I'm working on." Just as a parent loves all his or her children, it's natural that an artist likes to treats all works equally. But a music listener and amateur critic does have preferences. The musical peak -- so far -- of the The Reds, Pinks & Purples is Uncommon Weather, the third album. The variety of sounds and moods reached a remarkable pinnacle of expression then. For the three albums since then, including the latest, he has continued to maintain a plateau of sincerity and sound somewhat below this high mark, but well worth listening to and owning.
Unwishing Well by The Reds, Pinks & Purples is out today, April 12 on Slumberland Records.
[Photo: Press / Slumberland Records]