Doug Martsch: Now You Know : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

On his first solo album, Doug Martsch leaves behind intricate psychedelic pop and becomes a backwoods savant. Now You Know is a disc of bare-bones folk blues that recalls O Brother, Where Art Thou? more than anything by Martsch's band, Built to Spill. The album's debt to such Delta bluesmen as Fred McDowell is clear (Martsch even throws in a nicely done cover of McDowell's "Jesus," in case anyone misses the point), but Now is more than mere homage. The moony ballad "Gone" is a gem, and on "Heart (Things Never Shared)," a back-porch stomp centering on his patented whiny vocals, Martsch gives the impression that he is simultaneously channeling Ralph Stanley and J Mascis.

ALLISON STEWART
(RS 906 - October 3, 2002)