Bowman
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"Agitato E Misterioso"

Under the cut, I delve into a lot of opinions that have been rattling around my brain about Bowman and his last two albums.

Don’t misunderstand, I loved Comfortable Bugs and it was an excellent album! But in my entirely subjective opinion, it didn’t hold up to Ithaca, and here’s why.

Just shy of a year passed between Bowman’s Homestuck-independent debut Ithaca and his sophomore offering, Comfortable Bugs. In that period, I was actually fortunate enough to meet Michael in person at Otakon 2012, and had the benefit of watching him perform live, although regrettably the nature of the venue essentially prevented him from performing any non-Homestuck work.

Ithaca, released January 1st 2012, was a big step forward for Bowman-the-performer as well as, I think, Michael-the-person. Ithaca’s release and positive reception— overwhelming for the debut of an artist who was previously essentially unknown to anyone outside of the Homestuck fandom— simultaneously accomplished two things. It affirmed Bowman’s ability to create music that did not rely on its relation to Homestuck for acclaim, while also helping alleviate the weight of the albatross around his neck that Bowman’s association with the webcomic had begun to act as. There’s no doubt in my mind that Michael is happy and proud of his contributions to Homestuck, and that he is even moreso grateful for the opportunities that have come his way through the comic. On the other hand, I don’t fault him at all for being burnt out on the ironic cover of “How Do I Live” that made him fandom-famous; I’m even less inclined to fault him for being dissatisfied with a fan base that is infamous for not really having any clue at all about who contributes what with regards to music and art.

Those factors— trying to distance himself from Homestuck, as well as the tension about whether or not he could distance himself and stay afloat artistically— made Ithaca’s Bowman a motivated and aggressive artist. Ithaca’s opening track features the discordant chatter of a dial-up modem under potently bright synths as Bowman sings that there is nobody who can stop him now— a powerful statement, regardless of context, from any artist at any point in their career, never mind an essentially unknown twenty-something from Texas singing from a blanket-lined closet. Conversely, the first track of Comfortable Bugs, “Hard Reset”, fades into corporeality from a distant-sounding keyboard riff punctuated by chirping birds, eventually coalescing into a jaunty little number— but where “Old Buggy Now” is definitive in its theme and stronger for it, “Hard Reset” is vague and a little confusing. The verses establish a clearly optimistic tone, but I’m hard-pressed to understand in what context “Caught you on the rebound” could be a particularly positive statement.

There’s a dichotomy between the two albums, one that even extends past the songs themselves to the album covers and titles: Ithaca takes its name from Odysseus’s home, the target destination of his arduous, decade-long journey; Comfortable Bugs takes its name from the type of person who is content with their position in life and much happier for it. Ithaca’s cover depicts Bowman, eyes resolutely turned skyward, bold lines and deep colors depicting an artist as much icon himself as iconoclast; Comfortable Bugs’ cover shows Bowman surrounded by a chaotic but homey-seeming clutter, gentle lights and blankets softening the tone of the cover and acting as visual appetizer to the intimacy of the songs themselves.

Because, it’s true: Comfortable Bugs is a much more intimate album than its predecessor. With songs like “I’m Letting Go” and “Three Small Words” (which, if I might say in an aside, is one of the most brilliantly self-conscious love songs I’ve ever heard), the admission of shame in “Looking For a Rock”, and the honestly seductive worship of “Every Time I Look Into Your Eyes”, we feel like we’ve discarded the larger-than-life Bowman-the-artist that graces the cover of Ithaca, and are now sitting down for a cup of tea with the Michael-the-person he turns back into once offstage. Arguably the most personal track on Ithaca is “Noun”, but even “Noun” hides behind a wall of impersonality in that its lyrics are, while brilliantly written and clever as hell, nebulous at best. To Bowman’s credit, though, that lack of clarity is inherent to his adequately capturing the subject of the song: that unknown person/thing/place that will satisfy this ineffable yearning, described in the vaguest terms possible in order to illustrate the innumerable possibilities of what it could be.

But there it is again: the desire to satisfy a need, a hunger; another knot on the thread that runs the length of Ithaca’s 12 tracks. Ithaca is Bowman’s response to the Odyssey, drawing a respectful parallel between the epic and young adulthood— particularly his young adulthood (with homage to his Filipino heritage in “Kalesa in Binondo”), but in a way of presentation that makes his specific pratfalls and hangups of youth believable as stand-ins for the listeners’ own. The summation of this journey is encapsulated in the final track, “The Roamin’ Bowman”— “If my kind of home is your kind of home/Then what reason have I to roam?” Comfortable Bugs is the obvious follow-through to that kind of musical statement, but then again there is a lot to be said for the fact that the Odyssey ends with Odysseus coming home, “cleaning up”, and with no epilogue.

That’s not to say Comfortable Bugs is a poor album by any stretch of the imagination. The intimacy of the album makes the emotion behind songs like “I’m Letting Go” and “Three Small Words” ring true, rather than the hollow they would seem surrounded by bombast. And Bowman displays a much keener ear for dynamics and orchestration on Comfortable Bugs— it makes the Steely Dan style of “Bad Dudes” that much slinkier, the funk influence of “I’m Letting Go” that much funkier, and the drop-out into the bridge of “Every Time” (“Where do all of the walls go”) a musical moment that made me break out in goosebumps from the elegantly crafted perfection of it. This goes hand-in-hand, I think, with Bowman’s rapidly increasing proficiency as a producer of his own work, having come exceptionally far in the year and a half between MT&HK and CB. The statement that Comfortable Bugs sounds almost on par with a professional studio recording sounds much less like a back-handed compliment when you remember that he puts these albums out on his own time and dime from his living room— no small feat.

Where Comfortable Bugs is by all admissions a more sedentary album, concerned with the facts of a mature life (admitting blunders, being emotionally aware, caring for those you love, letting the mistakes and missed opportunities of the past go), Ithaca is an album in transit, made dynamic by that spark of restlessness that ignites the engines of the heart. There are a few other trifling things that place Ithaca above Comfortable Bugs in my mind— an overuse of swing rhythms on CB; a real lack of the balladeer-style, storytelling songwriting (“The Roamin’ Bowman”, “Tacit Blue”, “Ascension”) that I think Bowman particularly excels at— but most important is that dynamism that Comfortable Bugs, for all its enjoyability, just seems to lack.

If Ithaca was a 9/10, and MT&HK was an 8.5/10, Comfortable Bugs weighs in at a 7.5-8 on the Completely Subjective Mal McGannon Scale. Though I guess it doesn’t really matter, given that I still instantly bought CB the moment it released for twice the asking price— and will still instantly by Bowman’s next album the moment it releases - Malcolm MacGannon


"SXSW Reviews"

Bowman is a man from Austin. Bowman is a musician, artist, videographer and apparently an 'I love the 80's' fan. His sound reminds team Kabu of simpler times, neon clothing and power rangers before our second grade class started (team Kabu is 26 years old). Bowman's music represents what team Kabu feels is the apex of our generation's 80's obsession.

His lyrics off "Ithaca" range from existentialism to polynesia, served over a bed of synthesizer. Bowman's video work is noteworthy to be sure - if you happen to be smoking right now, check out Bowman and press that play button. - Team Kabu


"Awesome Your Life"

My weekly stroll around bandcamp uncovered the quirky, upbeat and delightful pop genius of Michael Guy Bowman. Listening to this a lot like listening to early 90s Top 40, with all the earnest weirdness of that genre underscored and inflated. Bowman has done for the 90s what the Modern Lovers did for the 50s — revved it up again with fresh, bouncy enthusiasm and unironic joy. - Carolyn Elliot


Discography

COMFORTABLE BUGS
released independently 21 December 2012
http://bowman.bandcamp.com/album/comfortable-bugs

ITHACA
released independently 1 January 2012
http://bowman.bandcamp.com/album/ithaca

MOBIUS TRIP AND HADRON KALEIDO
released 31 May 2011 by What Pumpkin
http://homestuck.bandcamp.com/album/mobius-trip-and-hadron-kaleido

Various contributions by Bowman appear on the following albums released by What Pumpkin: Cherubim, Homestuck Vol. 9, Homestuck Vol. 8, The Wanderers, Homestuck Vol. 7: At the Price of Oblivion, Homestuck Vol. 6: Heir Transparent, Squiddles! Sing-along, Homestuck Vol. 5, Midnight Crew: Drawing Dead, Homestuck Vol. 1-4

Photos

Bio

Michael Guy Bowman first began producing music in 2009 for the soundtrack to the web comic Homestuck, a part of the project MS Paint Adventures by author and illustrator Andrew Hussie.

Along with a team of web-based collaborators, Bowman's eclectic contributions to the soundtrack have accompanied various animations, interactive elements, and appeared on the enormous catalogue of albums released by the project's label, What Pumpkin.

Bowman released his first solo album, Mobius Trip and Hadron Kaleido, as a side-project of MS Paint Adventures in 2011. Blending the fictional world of Homestuck with various pop music cues, this album brought Bowman's mix of songwriting and electronic composition to the consciousness of an online audience.

Since then, Bowman has moved his efforts primarily towards rock music, focusing his sound more and more on retro grooves and experimental blends of different genres on his follow-up release, Ithaca, an independent album.

Bowman began performing with a live backup band consisting of other web-based musicians in 2012 at the SXSW Music Festival in Austin, Texas.

His latest album, Comfortable Bugs, was released in December.