A (treasure) hunt for craftsmanship

I originally wanted to continue the I Heart Aesthetics saga and discuss "good" and "bad" music as objectively as the last two entries. I may still do that, but in the meantime, I want to discuss craftsmanship and my own potential limitations as a music critic in hearing any sign of it in the music of the band Treasure Hunt. Have a listen to a song in which I can appreciate the craftsmanship, and then listen to some Treasure Hunt:





There’s something to be said for craftsmanship. The Think About Life tune, for example, is actually a very subtle composition despite being based on a fairly simple musical idea (the bass line and clavichord combo). Multiple layers are slowly added to enhance the build; there is a clear climax and a satisfying denouement; there is an interesting non-repeating section (“Ah, in the summer sun, dancing in the gay clubs”) in which the bass line does a little dance, and the vocal style is unique and interesting. It shows some serious skill to be able to push a simple bass line for 3 minutes 45 seconds. I could say more about it, but I’ll let you discover its subtleties. Let’s move on to Treasure Hunt and to the real subject of this entry.

It’s hard to see craftsmanship in something like the music Treasure Hunt plays, which seems to be based on the belief that being loud has artistic merit. It’s kind of like how certain artists get away with bad art because they make it two stories tall. Their music rejects continuity in favour of abrupt juxtapositions, rejects the full spectrum from sound to silence in favour of the extremes, and it attempts coherence through repetition. With two drummers, it is also clearly more about rhythm than anything else. While these are worthy musical ideas, when I encountered them in Treasure Hunt’s set at the POP Montreal festival in October, I really really did hate it. The problem was that nothings stuck; the music just bounced right off of me so that when the set was done, I couldn’t tell how many songs had been played or in what ways one piece (there was no singing) was different than the next. I felt completely disoriented, with absolutely no musical landmarks, no way to establish expectations and feel surprised, and no real change in mood throughout.

I find it difficult, in general, to appreciate art in which I can’t find subtlety, which is problematic because the only way to appreciate subtlety is to understand genre, form, and a whole slew of other musical elements. No single critic, therefore, can be expected to accurately critique every type of music. My evaluation of Treasure Hunt obviously has “flaws”, because a lot of people seemed to appreciate it.* And the bands from which the members originally came (Wintersleep, Hot Hot Heat and Wolf Parade) are all fairly decent, well-established bands, so these musicians aren’t amateurs and this is all obviously quite intentional. But it’s actually baffling. Why would a competent musician put out music like this? Is this, perhaps, a genre which I know nothing about and is it therefore a fault of my own that I find no subtlety in this? As someone who strives to know something about music, should I be educating myself until I can?

Thoughts encouraged.


*The band that played after Treasure Hunt was Oh No Forest Fires, the lead singer of which said “Did you all see Treasure Hunt? You know that nasty old stripper that comes on at the strip club after the young sexy ones do their thing? Yeah, I feel like that stripper right now.” Which I am fairly certain he meant as a compliment to them.