Michael McDaeth - Shine in Reverse Review
Jan 2006
by Morley Seaver

.I've listened to a lot of "normal" music lately. It was time for something like this and "Shine in Reverse" is definitely not "normal". As somebody I know remarked (before they all fled the room), this is the most uninhibited record I've ever heard. You have to really admire a guy who has the balls to release a double CD set. Particularly when you're a guy that no one has heard of ever.

This is just one guy and a guitar. One weird guy. One guitar. Oh yeah, I forgot. One directionally-lacking harmonica. Songs like "At Least Leave a Note", "Not Drunk Enough" and "It Sure Is Another Day". Michael McDaeth is a singer-songwriter and as he puts it, "the Mayor of Crazy Town". Each of his songs are almost all made up of one chord progression repeated ad infinitum with his almost stream of consciousness vocals. He shouts out during some songs and mumbles throughout others. He is prone to breaking out into wordless sounds frequently. There are some of the most entertaining songs I've heard in recent memory on this disc. And then there's the liner notes….

I love this record. Then again I may be crazy. Michael McDaeth may be crazy. Maybe you're all crazy. Whatever. 99% of the general population will hate this record. For the other 1%, you owe it to yourself to check out this record. You'll feel strangely better after listening to it. Except when you're not in the mood for it. Then you'll want to scoop out your eyes with an ice cream spoon. God help everybody else.


Michael Mcdaeth - Shine in Reverse
Label: Sophisticated Monkey Records
Rating: You can't rate this record. It's brilliant. It's crap. OK OK, if you insist…

Victory Music >Folk Music Magazine review of Shine in Reverse - September 2005

If we may talk turkey, readers of this magazine likely don't fit Michael McDaeth's demographic, and vice versa.

For ten years, he's been a local star to those who like things loud and peevish and aren't too particular about musical technicalities. His sixth solo release since the demise of his aptly-named band Weeds is an all-acoustic double CD, so think of it as taking acoustic music in a uncommon direction. It's two-plus hours of highly personal, ideosyncratic two chord rock: howlings about Gen X dead ends, inappropriate girlfriends, pharmaceutical misadventures, interspersed with random bitter cynicism.

To be fair, some of these observations have a certain beauty, but they are odd flowers on a scorched earth. It's tough listening, and McDaeth is quite content to play the anti-Guthrie. He's a guy with a guitar out to sing you some songs that run you down, make you feel sorry for yourself, and get you thinkin' that you're too this or too that. The biggest target is McDaeth himself, though, and he unflinchingly admits to all the above-named shortcomings and transgressions. Shine in reverse, indeed. (Tom Peterson)

Redefine Magazine

MICHAEL MCDAETH
Shine In Reverse
Independent

(NEGATIVES)
- It is really hard to pin this double album down into a genre. So let me just say that it is McDaeth and a guitar. The songs sound like they were written about five minutes before he hit the record button. I get the idea, but these song just come out way too sloppy.
- There’s no way I can sit and listen through this entire double album through one sitting. To use a song title from Shine In Reverse, I’m just “Not Drunk Enough.”

(POSITIVES)
+ I don’t get it. But after reading the liner notes to Shine in Reverse (check them out at http://www.mcdaeth.com/linerNotes.html), I’m sure that he doesn’t care that I don’t get it. And that I can admire: the ability just to belt it out and let it fly and not care what anyone thinks about it.

(LIKE IT)
Those who can understand his artistic statement to play on raw emotion and let the music be exactly what it is.

- GARON H. OVERLEY.

Fortunately, artists such as Michael McDaeth are around to keep that second group alive. He's back for a sixth solo round -- a freshly printed ink-jet label wrapped around a double-disc of madness, a continuation of his "the music started making him" explorations. Using only a guitar, a harmonica, his voice and his imagination, he works magic

There's no need to provide a detailed account of every song on Shine in Reverse; once you've heard a few of McDaeth's songs, you've kind of heard them all. Well, yes and no. McDaeth's creativity isn't housed in an explosion of multi-tracking or tape-edits. His craft is in the details, the ability to persevere in (literally) pounding out 26 songs, all in the same style -- and to your attention while he does it. He accomplishes this goal by never really finishing what he's talking about, cutting and pasting sentences together while splicing in words and harmonica blasts to "end" phrases. You'll consider his observations later, coming up with your own conclusions, then returning to the song to piece together your version of the story. In other words, he's a great director who gives you the stage, a few details about the characters and a little fuel for your imagination. As dumb as it sounds, it's refreshing to experience this type of ambiguity, given the genre's surplus of let-me-explain-every-little-detail-so-you-don't-have-to-think artists.

However, if you listen carefully, McDaeth's madness is merely a façade; behind it, you'll find an endearing songwriter who enjoys his creative freedom. When you let go of the idea that an audience or your bandmates are listening to you, as McDaeth does, you can say "fuck" and "shit", call world leaders "terrorists", ramble "duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh", yell "shalalalalalalalala" and squeak and squawk in keys well beyond your vocal range. His insulated approach is bolstered by the courage that comes when you focus on the idea that only you and "the requisite fans" will listen to your music and "get" it. McDaeth uses this weapon to its fullest, and regardless of his angst, his performance betrays the satisfaction he derives from getting things off of his chest; think about Noam Chomsky's peace when he corrects others, or the first John Frusciante album, or Evangelical preachers, or some of the "tortured" yet brilliant bloggers whose work you peruse every morning.

Once you get over Shine in Reverse's initial abrasiveness, you'll understand that McDaeth isn't trying to be weird -- he just lets what's on his mind come out, jagged edges and mumbling included. While his predecessors have moved on to Mitsubishi commercials and their own line of iPods, McDaeth will continue his trek, giving renewed meaning to "three chords and the truth".

-- Dave Madden

Michael McDaeth
Shine in Reverse
(self-released, 2005)

You have to meet McDaeth at least halfway, if you're even willing to try. Shine in Reverse comprises almost 30 tracks with almost nothing but McDaeth's voice, acoustic guitar, and occasional harmonica bleats. McDaeth isn't a fancy guitar player and he sticks mostly to strumming. He can establish a credible groove, but he has a tendency to drop beats across transitions. Some of the songs are more-or-less identifiably rooted in the blues tradition, but most avoid the standard verse/chorus/bridge song structures. They often don't sound composed so much as emitted.

Shine in Reverse confronts the listener with the fundamental dilemma of outsider art: is it actually good, or is it just weird?

What makes it work (when it works) is primarily McDaeth's fearless and rigorous exploration of his own voice. Like a baby learning to speak, he seems determined to make every noise his mouth can possibly make; as a result, he sounds (for a few syllables at a time, at least) uncannily like a number of great singers.

The other thing McDaeth has going for him is uncompromising artistic intensity and integrity. He clearly believes in what he's doing, and that belief is sometimes contagious.