Dave's Chad VanGaalen Review

This album is a journey (all albums are a journey idiot) but this album feels as if it’s taking you somewhere special. Like Alice chasing the rabbit into the hole, listeners are enticed to follow Chad VanGaalen into the album song by song – and with each dity the journey becomes a little more bizarre and a lot more satisfying.

It’s obvious each song plays its role perfectly contributing to the larger meaning and themes of the album. That theme, by the way is death. But not the kind of death that makes us uncomfortable, but the kind of death that makes us seeks answers within ourselves to the life beyond and our experience in this time. Which is why when listening to “Soft Airplane” you’ll find yourself drifting off into the imagery created by Chad’s lyrics (“I can hear the cries of the dead/Maybe its your Neighbor/Beating his dog in the basement”) to suddenly be snapped back by the unique textures created by non-traditional instruments and arrangements.

That juxtaposition is the key to this album’s ability to act as escapism into Chad VanGaalen’s world. It’s an adventure of the undiscovered. While exploring the infinite and unanswerable questions of death there seems to be a childlike innocence in VanGaalen’s method. It feel like he’s experimenting in the recording process rather than meticulously arranging in the writing process - but it works, simply because he’s trying it. Like when a small child finger-paints, or uses Play-Doh, it becomes instantly endearing because of the method. That is where the charm of “Soft Airplane” lies.

Chad VanGaalen has delivered a great record, as one of my fellow reviewers pointed out, there isn’t a bad song on “Soft Airplane”, however unlike Ryan, I feel the album has more cohesion and unity to it. Intentional or not is irrelevant, because for me, it’s part of the entire package, it’s the journey of “Soft Airplane” as a work of commercial art.

The one thing that Chad VanGaalen’s “Soft Airplane” has working against it, is that upon listening to the album several times, the novelty of these songs almost becomes predictable. For the listener it’s like a drug – they keep listening hoping to find that same magic they heard the first 5 or 7 listens – but it’s not going to happen, it’s never as good as the first time. “Soft Airplane” is the kind of album that is best is small doses, it reminds you how special it really can be that way.

There is no doubt that Chad VanGaalen’s career will be a wonder to watch in the coming years. His sheer talent will take his art places that will (hopefully) satisfy him, and along the way, he’ll have people follow him on the journey – just like Alice and followed the rabbit down the hole.