Don Lennon's charming, geeky fourth album is an autobiographical concept piece about standup comics, television comedies, and minimum wage employment. Musically and vocally,
Routine is a mix of
Jonathan Richman and early folkie
King Missile, with
Lennon's voice sometimes coming across as a dead ringer for
Erlend Øye or
the Ocean Blue's David Schelzel. Even a casual listen of
Routine suggests that the gentle-voiced indie rocker watches a huge amount of television and isn't afraid to flaunt it.
Lennon name-checks
Jimmy Fallon while bemoaning and praising Saturday Night Live in "What SNL Stands For," compares and contrasts John Ritter with Carrot Top and
Bill Cosby in "Last Comic Standing," and seemingly goes mad about Fraiser in "The Death of My Imagination." While
Lennon's quirky lyrics and subject matter are always interesting, his music is strong enough that he needn't go so far down the wacky
Beat Happening path. A song like the delicate "My Resume," without the Access Hollywood revelry that peppers much of the album, is endearing and touching enough to compare favorably to
Magnetic Fields or
East River Pipe. But given the album's autobiographical slant, it really becomes hard to find fault. If television is so dear to
Lennon, these song-stories gain some credibility as a musical slice of life.
Routine is a somewhat difficult first listen, given its inherent naïvety and television geekery, but it reveals its charm quite handily with more listens. With all the soul-bearing on display,
Lennon seems like a really nice, talented fellow, but his outright honesty will probably make his music a love it or hate it affair for most listeners. It's both sad and wonderful that
Routine is saddled with such artistic honesty. ~ Tim DiGravina