Stuart Davis: Something Simple

Colorado guru Stuart Davis is on his own trip. Since the early ’90s, he’s released about a dozen works of experimental singer-songwriter exploration, equally covering the themes of sexuality and spirituality with folk, pop, alt. rock, haiku, essay, audio book, and — later in 2008 — a physical book. His newest record (or at least the version I received) contains a bonus sampler of his 2006 audio book Love Has No Opposite. On that disk, he describes in great detail and spectacular wit the bottle method for cutting down the wasted time spent pulling over to pee or walking to the bathroom, the foreseeable instances in which his urine was accidentally consumed (hint: don’t use Mountain Dew containers), sodomizing a robot in a library, the immutable fact that you and I are one, and the reconciliation of ego and self through the recognition of the singularity between waking and dreaming reality. Like South Park, he balances out the heavy catharsis with poopy talk. It’s as if Dane Cook realized his own tragic immaturity, then started meditating and listening to Bill Hicks. Stuart has no shame or, apparently, fixed religion, which makes for some really interesting streams of thought in his aural prose. Sadly, with the possible exception of “Sugar Bullets” and its keen innuendo, his music doesn’t often hit the same level that his mind is at. Something Simple is indeed something simple, and though there are the odd tracks or turns of phrase that force you to question the state of things, it all comes off like a Christian pop or adult contemporary album (check “Sky God”). At that, it’s a decent effort, but not earth shattering.