Frog
1000 Variations on the Same Song
AUDIO ANTIHERO

One of the difficulties of making art is the nagging feeling that someone, somewhere, somewhen has done the same thing before—and better. After all, how many books, poems, paintings, or albums have been made about the collective trauma of war, or the pandemic? Or more personal experiences, like love or heartbreak or grief? It’s something that Jeffrey Lewis explicates with profundity and humor in his 2005 song “The Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror,” on which the anti-folk songwriter brilliantly navigates his own inferiority complex through a series of increasingly surreal scenes about his worth as a musician by way of an imagined meeting with the songwriter professionally known as Bonnie “Prince” Billy on the subway, which descends into an unhinged rumination on his own artistic worth. It’s a perfect distillation of creative insecurity, of the reverence for and assumed hierarchy of those who influence, of the idea that there’s nothing original to write anymore, that everything you want to create has already been done, if not by someone else, then by yourself previously.

Frog’s sixth album, 1000 Variations on the Same Song, is a wonderfully unique approach to that same thought by the New York band fronted by Daniel Bateman, albeit with almost the opposite intention: to deliberately test the idea of those limitations, to see how many (different) songs you can write using the same chords. Playful yet heartfelt and quirkily beautiful, that’s probably why these 11 tracks feel immediately familiar, yet also like nothing you’ve heard before. There’s something both jarring and comforting about the haunting, layered falsetto vocals that drive these songs, whether that’s the jerky, angular indie-pop and near-math-rockiness of “Top of the Pops Var. I,” the darker yet still upbeat plaintive desperation of “Doomscrolling Var. II,” the Modest-Mouse-goes-Midwest-emo solemnity of “Where Do I Sign Var. III,” or the exaggerated country flair of “Housebroken Var. IV,” which also has something of an Isaac Brock idiosyncrasy within its bones.

If you haven’t worked it out, beyond the introduction of “Still Theme,” each song is followed by a variation number, driving home the point of the experiment at the heart of this album: that these are all the same song. Of course, they’re not—the jittery, ’70s-esque “Just Use Yr Hips Var. VI,” for example, is very different from “Mixtape Liner Notes Var. VII,” itself a gorgeous, if less self-deprecating, variation on the Jeffrey Lewis song that conveys the experience of listening to a mixtape containing songs by MCR, Big Star, Dashboard Confessional, and The National, albeit channeled through its own distinct tune. The first four variations were, however, all recorded in one long take, which adds another layer to the concept of this record. Because, ultimately, even though we’re all different, we all experience love, heartbreak, and grief throughout our short time on this planet—though that doesn’t mean our thoughts and the art we make about those things are worthless.

In fact it’s quite the opposite. Everybody’s responses to those things are different, and everybody will create something utterly unique in response to the same stimulus. That’s precisely the point this record is making: even if created in an incredibly condensed period of time, the results will be unique and worthwhile. That’s something the band reinforces with the ramshackle closer “Arthur McBride Var. X,” their unique and updated, NYC-specific take on the traditional folk song “Arthur McBride.” It’s proof, as is this whole album, that the same isn’t always the same. Let’s hope the next 990 variations are released sooner rather than later, because the ones here are truly something special.

FLOOD

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Frog, 1000 Variations on the Same Song

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MUSIC, ART + CULTURE,DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX

MUSIC, ART + CULTURE,
DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX