Eddie Vedder - UkuleleSongs

Thu 23rd Jun, 2011 in Music Reviews

For 20 years Eddie Vedder has been a iconic figure in rock music, mostly satisfying his creative needs though his enormous output with Pearl Jam. It may surprise some to note that his first venture as a solo artist came 18 years after his debut with Pearl Jam, as 2007’s award winning Into The Wild, a soundtrack to the film of the same name. To follow up his foray as solo artist Vedder hasn’t used a film for inspiration, but a much looked over instrument; the ukulele.

The bluntly titled Ukulele Songs doesn’t leave much for the imagination, it’s 16 tracks of almost nothing but Eddie Vedder’s voice and an array of ukuleles. The amount of songs may seem excessive considering the concept of the record, but thankfully it clocks in at less than 35 minutes. Vedder is no stranger to the ukulele, one appears on PJ’s Binaural deep cut Soon Forget and his last solo record was filled with uke inspired guitar tunings. Hhis playing is beautifully picked and the ebb and flow of his strumming patterns occasionally create surprising dynamics from such a simple instrument.

Lyrically Vedder haunts through love songs with all the gravity of his day job; “I’ll keep on healing all the scars that we collected from that start” from Without You seems heavy, but the earnestness of his voice as it fills the empty spaces left by the ukulele add a sweetness to the lyric and keeps it from bogging the song down. You’re True captures the freedom and adventure of Into the Wild, his voice soars over his strumming and his raspy howls conjure romantic images of longing, and Satellite and Longing to Belong sees him at his most straightforwardly romantic. He toes the line of schmaltz, but the novelty of his instrument keeps the cheese in check.

Unfortunately the albums defining feature also leads to its downfall; after repeated listens it becomes difficult to discern between most of the tracks on the album. The similar tones and cadences of the ukulele begin to blend together and repeated mentions of memories, palm trees and loneliness blend into one.

Respite is found toward the end of the record with a charming duet with Cat Power of old country song Tonight You Belong To Me but the strongest track on the record is his cover of his own Pearl Jam track Can’t Keep from Riot Act. It shows the power of Vedder’s song writing when a rock song can be stripped back to vocals and a ukulele and still retain its thundering power; his vocals are defiant of the emptiness around them.

Sadly Can’t Keep is the albums first track and it fails to reach these heights again. There are definite peaks on the record but he is restricted by his medium too often. Eddie Vedder deserves credit for trying something new, but his experiment doesn’t always pay off and in the end he seems to have enjoyed making this more than you will enjoy listening to it.