#17: Travis Morrison Hellfighters>All Ya'll>Ketchup leaves a nasty stain

Artist : Travis Morrison Hellfighters
Album : All Ya'll (1st Domestic LP)
Release : 08.21.07
Year Founded : 2004
Label Name : Barsuk Records
Catalog # : 67
Packaging Type : Single-Disc Jewel Case
Members : Saadat Awan, David Brown, Brandon Kalber, Travis Morrison
Runtime : 41:45
Area Tour Dates : None at time of publication
Sound Season : Summer
iTunes Worthy Tracks : I'm Not Supposed to Like You (But), As We Proceed, East Side of the River, I Do
Sounds Like : Enon Believo!
Rating : B+



I guess this is the Travis Morrison Hellfighters' first record, although Morrison does have one other post-Dismemberment Plan solo album. Lineup changes end up being the major difference though, because both albums could easily pass for an album by his former band, The Dismemberment Plan. That's not so much a bad thing (The Dismemberment Plan were catchy, exciting, and, above all, innovative), it just illustrate's how one-sided the songwriting process must have been for them.

All Ya'll starts off strong with the quick "I'm Not Supposed to Like You (But)," and the jumpy "As We Proceed." The former features a slithery and persuasive bassline and snappy, propellant drumming, but its greatest asset is when the verse goes double-time, which it does every third measure. The former switches focus, putting the onus on the guitar to deliver its bouncy energy, after which it beats a hasty retreat, returning only to join forces with the bass in order to power an anthemic chorus. Consider also the drums and percussion as their own heroic entities and you have a indie rock Voltron of sorts. The second verse gets perhaps a little self-referential about Morrison and the eventual collapse of The Dismemberment Plan, although it's equally as likely that it's about reconciling being religious and a rock star.

Breezin' in, breezin' out, livin' life full of doubt
It's nothing that a Catholic boy should fuck with.
'99, that's the year, I figured out
that I'd have to make it work my own way

After this excellent beginning duo, All Ya'll absolutely screeches to a halt with "Catch Up," which tries to be playful and quirky (a milieu that Morisson has pulled off before), but quickly turns into a circus of disassociative ideas. It sounds like a pig pile of scraps from the cutting room floor, which reaches its ineffectual pinnacle at a little over the three and a half minute mark when the barrage includes (from what I can discern) guitar, bass, drums, percussion, three keyboard tracks, and two unrelated vocal tracks, which mesh with eachother in no way, shape or form.

Thankfully, Morrison comes to his senses again with the lucid and calming "East Side of the River" and never falters again. The rest of the album is a great balancing act. If a song is exceedingly dancy, it's lyrics are acerbic and subversive. When the vocals get eccentric, the music stays sober and to the point. Despite the strengths of the later songs, it's almost as if they are somehow tainted by the buffoonery of "Catch Up." They fail to captivate the way the first two tracks do.

Travis Morrison Hellfighters manage — like The Dismemberment Plan — to continue to carry the torch of keeping things fun and still respectable. All Ya'll would be immensely improved with the omission of "Catch Up," but I have to give him credit for trying something different and failing rather than delivering eleven tracks of safe sameness. Just don't let it happen again.