Ron House - Obsessed

Zaius Tapes bring to vinyl for the first time a rare Ron House outing first released back in 2002 to pretty much zero fanfare. House has spent plenty of time contributing to the backwater sounds of the Great American Underground of Columbus via his connections with Great Plains, Thomas Jefferson Slave Apts, Ego Summit et al, but Obsessed carries with it a naked, absurdist romanticism not necessarily associated with those acts that marks its undoubted obscurity as a little undeserved. The sounds pursued here have a clear precedent in the vivid world-building imaginations of, say, Daniel Johnston and Michaels Hurley and Yonkers, sparse acoustic guitar and melodica allied with the kind of divisive singing voice that's perfectly suited to lyrics that veer between the sentimental and the sordid.  If House sings with an intense desperation at times, then he's also equally funny too, playfully prodding at the weird vagaries of social mores and their attendant performances. Booze and sex follow him around in these songs, and often inspire half his punchlines and at least half more of his indiscretions. True or not, they are infinitely relatable, and while House presents himself as Chianski-like barfly fuckup sage, it's the kind you'd be happy to put an arm around or share a bottle with. Often times, I'd settle for nothing less.
 
FFO: Michael Hurley, Michael Yonkers, Daniel Johnston, Jim Shepard