Music Review: Ben Ottewell, Rattlebag

By Melissa Bratcher

Former Gomez singer and guitarist Ben Ottewell has the kind of voice that one struggles to find descriptors of. It’s like an old blues singer sitting on a front porch, like a drunken businessman wearing a suit made of sandpaper, like the honk of a deranged goose (but in a good way). His voice is distinctive and unusual and quite fantastic. As a guitarist, he is solid and makes interesting choices. He’s got a way with melody, too.

Why, then, is his second solo album, Rattlebag, often so dull? There are some lovely melodies, but the songs are overstuffed and all at much the same, easy, plodding tempo. It’s the kind of music that wouldn’t be out of place being sold at the counter of a Starbucks, and I’m not sure that that’s the best use of Ottewell’s talents.

Rattlebag starts out promisingly enough with the title track (an aside: more artists should do that. Don’t bury your title track midway through side two. Own it). There’s inventive acoustic guitar, then Ottewell’s voice comes in like a finely controlled hurricane, and the drums are the sonic equivalent of waves crashing to the shore. And the second track, “Red Dress,” is pleasantly folky with some nice pedal steel and lovely acoustic flourishes. Even the next track, “Patience & Rosaries,” with a wandering bass line and the unusual credit to “creepy keys” on the liner notes (and yes, they are a bit creepy), is good. Ottewell uses his lowest register and it is chilling. He should do that more.

It’s certainly not that the songs on Rattlebag are bad. They’re fine. They’re. . . pleasant. There are moments of interest, like the spacey and psychedelic “No Place,” with what sounds like a sitar and an insistent guitar line that is so muted it’s almost unconscious. “Edge” lives up to its name, rockier than the other songs, with a sinister vocal tone. The closer, “Distant Shores,” is hymnlike with background vocals, which help.

In fact, part of the problem with Rattlebag becomes apparent when there are harmonies on “So Slow.” It’s a brief moment when the color and contrast added in makes the lack on other songs so evident. Ben Ottewell has an interesting voice. But sometimes, a little lagniappe of contrast makes it so much more interesting. I think that’s why Gomez worked: the sugar and the salt.

Rattlebag is a pleasant, if pedestrian effort. There are fine moments, like the lovely bits of pedal steel that add unexpected texture, and the songs in which Ottewell does the unexpected, like exploring his lower register. It’s a very polite album, in which each song wants to be like the other songs, restrained and mid-tempo. I wanted to stand on the rooftops, proudly proclaiming how much I loved Rattlebag, but I can’t.

Rattlebag was released on October 28 by The End Records/ADA. It is available on iTunes.