In discussing their new album "A Small Turn of Human Kindness," in this hilarious article, Harvey Milk bassist Stephen Tanner and drummer Kyle Spence described the album as such; "this was made for all the people that think Courtesy is our best album. We came up with the most pretentious music we possibly could, and since that wasn’t enough, we wrote ridiculous words about total bullshit and named the songs in the most annoying fashion we could imagine." For the most part that description sums up "A Small Turn of Human Kindness" better than I ever could. The flipside of Tanner and Spence's assessment is that in creating another song-cycle like the aforementioned, and critical favorite, "Courtesy and Good Will Toward Men," the band have crafted their finest album to date, for the very same reasons the band rags on it. Yes, it is pretentious, yes maybe the slice of a broken life lyrics are about total bullshit in the end, but then again that is the point. It is all bullshit, and Harvey Milk has always been about saying "I am sick of all this too," a lyrical refrain that runs throughout the album's songs.
In the past I admired Harvey Milk more than I loved their work enough to play it on a regular basis. Their slow as molasses doom blues and singer, Creston Spiers, who yelped his lyrics like the drunken southerner that he is was unique when the band emerged in the later half of the 90s. They took the crushingly slow heaviness of the Melvins, bluesed it up and laid waste to everything around them. At the same time, their painful lyrics about life and how not to live it made the band's music emotionally resonant. With "A Small Turn of Human Kindness" that former admiration has turned to outright love. For my money, there is no better work in the band's canon than this here album.
"A Small Turn..." is the sound of the band stripped to its core, with all that is great about the band on display, and all that was tedious or uninspired thrown by the wayside. Gone is the classic rock approach the band took following "Courtesy," on albums like "Pleaser" and to some degree "Life...The Best Game in Town," in it's place is pure doom blues that is more intense than even the legendary Dylan Carlson has ever produced since re-inventing Earth as a doom blues band.
Centered around a broken man in a broken relationship with a child on the way, the album explores the desperation inherent in any attempt for change and redemption. The war of words between man and woman, the inner and outer frustrations of each, and the constant threat of violence informs most of the album's content. The band's crushing musical approach only punctuates the characters' turmoil. The record's most rewarding moments come when the music momentarily shifts from downtrodden to victorious, reflecting brief glimpses of hope. Nowhere is this more apparent than on album centerpiece and highlight "I Alone Got Up and Left." Not only does the song contain the most poetic lyrics ever about roadkill (seriously, you may even shed a tear or two), but the music is the sound of grace in the midst of struggle. "I Did Not Call Out/Untitled," brings the drama toward a close, beginning with strings and piano and ending in violence. Like a good Tennessee Williams play the gun goes off in the final act. The final denouement is an emotional reckoning, the kind that ever other indie rock, including more intensive heavy metal, simply cannot compete with. This is serious music for serious people. You don't play it at a party, you don't play it with friends, you play it during those alone times when every note means everything. At this point this is my vote for the best album of the year, yeah it is that good.
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