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As the title suggests, the song finds Kinsella lamenting his pedigree: \"Bad blood \/ Hereditary law you can't run away from \/ (Trust me, I've tried).\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThis focus on familial relationships occurs often, but with the addition of a new angle on top of those Kinsella has adopted previously. Now the parent of two children, Kinsella finds his perspective on life inevitably shifting from being a \"son\" to being a \"father.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThis role reversal adds a new dimension to Kinsella's self-examination of his thoughts and fears. 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It leaves me more content to deal with reality.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eFor more than two decades, Kinsella has been a central figure in Chicago’s indie rock universe, serving multiple roles in a string of bands whose influence continues to resonate across a span of genres and musical approaches. A founding member – with his brother Tim – of Cap’n Jazz, Joan of Arc, and Owls, Kinsella’s own vision first manifested via American Football’s cathartic rock, but for most of the years since 2002, through Owen’s raw homespun offerings. Adopting the solo singer\/songwriter persona freed Kinsella from a lifetime working in collectives, giving him complete control over every aspect of his creativity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e“I can say whatever I want as Owen,” he says. “I can express all the aspects of my personality – I can be crude or funny or sad or mean or whatever. It’s my personal thing.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eOwen’s lo-fi, largely acoustic bedroom recordings have evolved over eight albums and myriad EPs into a more orchestrated approach reflective of Kinsella’s growing strength as a songwriter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eA series of recent efforts inspired him to further broaden Owen’s reach -- from American Football’s well-received 2014 return to simply getting behind the kit in Chicago indie rock trio Their\/They're\/There – his first stint as a mere drummer in over a decade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eStill eager to push Owen’s hermetic parameters, Kinsella enlisted producer S. 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Together the combo crafts an expansive but still grounded backdrop for Kinsella’s candid confessionals.\u003c\/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eKinsella has made more than a fair share of records – “I sure have,” he says – so the remarkable fact that this is his first album in a 15-year span releasing music as Owen recorded outside of Chicago and his own circle must have had significant impact.\u003c\/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e“I joined my brother’s band in seventh grade,” he says, “and then kept playing in my brother’s bands for the next fifteen, twenty years. Even American Football, that was with an old high school buddy so it was still very comfortable. Taking me out of my comfort zone definitely led to something different.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eLeaving his scene behind offered an array of new possibilities but also opened up a very different emotional response. Though Kinsella was a fan and familiar with his collaborators’ work, he was still the newcomer to the gang, “a totally weird experience for a grown man.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e“They’re all really good friends,” he says. “They work together all the time, they have their own language, and then there’s me, going, here’s my songs. It felt like junior high, like I was the kid starting a new school in the middle of the year.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThe process itself was unlike previous Owen recordings in that Kinsella was for the first time able to let go of various instrumentation, allowing his fellow musicians to carry some of the weight only he previously bore.\u003c\/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThe sheer songcraft on \u003cem\u003eThe King of Whys\u003c\/em\u003e more than warrants the expanded production, Kinsella dissecting his own foibles and familial relationships with caustic wit and a mordant sense of self-awareness. “Lovers Come And Go” and the elegiac “Saltwater” see the songwriter processing his experiences as he approaches the big four-oh, using his art to learn how to be a better father and husband.\u003c\/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e“I worry that anyone under twenty five isn’t going to care about how tired he is from chasing his kids all day,” Kinsella says, “but whatever.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThe \u003cem\u003eKing of Whys\u003c\/em\u003e has far more going on than the self-deprecating Kinsella suggests, touching on universals like addiction with “Empty Bottle,” the place where so many long dark nights of the soul begin, whether it’s the venerable Chicago club or a just-finished fifth. Songs like “A Burning Soul” – a scathing looks at how his dad’s alcoholism has affected his own young family – and the closing “Lost” are haunting and poignant, alighting upon such common themes as love and loss, rebirth and redemption.\u003c\/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e“It’s dark on the surface but those are real feelings,” Kinsella says. “For a while I was pretty self conscious about my songwriting. There are Internet memes about how sad I am. I just feel there are enough love songs playing at grocery stores – I can write about darker stuff.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eAn intimate singer\/songwriter album recorded under contemporary circumstances, \u003cem\u003eThe King of Whys\u003c\/em\u003e utilizes progressive techniques, song structures, and time signatures, but Owen’s introspective humanity is timeless. 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I'm not talking, of course, about Kinsella's actual countenance; I'm referring to his neo-absurdist temperament and the obvious fun with which he goes about his business.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEven when he was just the scratchy-voiced, baby-faced ringmaster of Cap'n Jazz, Tim Kinsella was already establishing himself as a first- (well, maybe second) rate semantic clown and word-gamesman. With a penchant for double-entendre and imagistic jokes, Kinsella charmed his partisans and alienated the rest of us with his Duchampesque disregard for everything, and created a contested little body of work which still polarizes fans of the genre. Personally, Joan of Arc drives me up the fucking wall, but my dismissal of the band has nothing to do with the personality phenomenon of Kinsella; they sorely lacked dynamism, and there were too few hooks and too much blipped-over space for my liking.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOwls \u003c\/strong\u003ereunites the boys from Cap'n Jazz for another stab at the rock. Absent this time is the Promise Ring's Davey Von Bohlen, but the remaining cast (Tim Kinsella, brother Mike on drums, guitarist Victor Villareal, and bassist Sam Zurick) are back in strong form.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo, too, is Tim Kinsella's jokiness, though that's not such a bad thing. Even the typical, hideously Kinsellated title of \"What Whorse You Wrote Id On\" doesn't detract from the opening track's elegant mood and almost sing-songy warmth. The guitarwork is nothing short of gorgeous, with Villareal arpeggiating a trebly, spidery path into your aural memory, his picking providing a textural counterpoint to Mike Kinsella's ornate drumming, which it should be said has never sounded this good.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Anyone Can Have a Good Time\" starts quietly and jangly over a semi-marshal beat in non-standard time. Things seem to be meandering, only to find anchorage in what passes for a refrain. 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Exquisite Corpse","description":"\u003cp\u003e Track Credits:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e 1. \"Yer Brothers\" - \u003cstrong\u003eDavid Bazan\u003c\/strong\u003e (Pedro The Lion), \u003cstrong\u003ePhil Dickey\u003c\/strong\u003e (Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin), \u003cstrong\u003eNate Kinsella\u003c\/strong\u003e (American Football\/Birthmark), \u003cstrong\u003eNick Wilkerson\u003c\/strong\u003e (White Reaper)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e 2. \"Somebody Else\" - \u003cstrong\u003eErik Czaja\u003c\/strong\u003e (Pet Symmetry), \u003cstrong\u003eGus Lobban\u003c\/strong\u003e (Kero Kero Bonito), \u003cstrong\u003eChristie Simpson\u003c\/strong\u003e (Yumi Zouma), \u003cstrong\u003eShugo Tokumaru\u003c\/strong\u003e (Shugo Tokumaru)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e 3. \"SLOW DRIVE\" - \u003cstrong\u003eShaun Fleming\u003c\/strong\u003e (Diane Coffee), \u003cstrong\u003eWill Knauer\u003c\/strong\u003e (Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin), \u003cstrong\u003eCale Parks\u003c\/strong\u003e (Aloha\/Cale Parks), \u003cstrong\u003eCharlie Ryder \u003c\/strong\u003e(Yumi Zouma)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e 4. \"To The Beach\" - \u003cstrong\u003eMark Duplass\u003c\/strong\u003e (Volcano, I'm Still Excited!!), \u003cstrong\u003eKaia Fischer\u003c\/strong\u003e (Rainer Maria), \u003cstrong\u003eEllen Kempner\u003c\/strong\u003e (Palehound), \u003cstrong\u003eJeff Rosenstock\u003c\/strong\u003e (Jeff Rosenstock\/Antarctigo Vespucci)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e 5. \"Whole Life Holy Death\" - \u003cstrong\u003eChris Broach\u003c\/strong\u003e (Braid, SNST), \u003cstrong\u003eVice Cooler\u003c\/strong\u003e (xbxrx), \u003cstrong\u003eRocky Tinder\u003c\/strong\u003e (Wampire), \u003cstrong\u003eAry Warnaar\u003c\/strong\u003e (Anamanaguchi)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e 6. \"Do U Remember\" - \u003cstrong\u003eRobert Pope\u003c\/strong\u003e (The Get Up Kids), \u003cstrong\u003eJamie Stewart\u003c\/strong\u003e (Xiu Xiu), \u003cstrong\u003eFred Thomas\u003c\/strong\u003e (Fred Thomas\/Saturday Looks Good To Me), \u003cstrong\u003eElla Williams\u003c\/strong\u003e (Squirrel Flower)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e 7. \"Perfect Vision\" - \u003cstrong\u003eKeil Corcoran\u003c\/strong\u003e (STRFKR), \u003cstrong\u003eKaty Goodman\u003c\/strong\u003e (La Sera\/Vivian Girls), \u003cstrong\u003eChris Hansen\u003c\/strong\u003e (matt pond PA), \u003cstrong\u003eMike Kinsella\u003c\/strong\u003e (American Football\/Owen), \u003cstrong\u003eMatt Pond\u003c\/strong\u003e (matt pond PA)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e 8. \"So Much To See\" - \u003cstrong\u003eJess Abbott\u003c\/strong\u003e (Tancred), \u003cstrong\u003eJames Alex\u003c\/strong\u003e (Beach Slang\/Quiet Slang), \u003cstrong\u003eBob Nanna\u003c\/strong\u003e (Braid), \u003cstrong\u003eLuke Silas\u003c\/strong\u003e (Anamanaguchi)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e 9. \"Some Storms\" - \u003cstrong\u003ePeter Berkman\u003c\/strong\u003e (Anamanaguchi), \u003cstrong\u003eErin Fein\u003c\/strong\u003e (Psychic Twin\/Headlights), \u003cstrong\u003eTJ Lipple\u003c\/strong\u003e (Aloha), \u003cstrong\u003eMatt Pryor\u003c\/strong\u003e (The Get Up Kids), \u003cstrong\u003eNick Thorburn\u003c\/strong\u003e (Mister Heavenly)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e 10. \"Lonely\" -\u003cstrong\u003e Pip Brown\u003c\/strong\u003e (Ladyhawke), \u003cstrong\u003eJosh Burgess\u003c\/strong\u003e (Yumi Zouma), \u003cstrong\u003eChris Farren\u003c\/strong\u003e (Chris Farren\/Antarctigo Vespucci), \u003cstrong\u003eMarcus Nuccio\u003c\/strong\u003e (Pet Symmetry), \u003cstrong\u003eCameron Spies\u003c\/strong\u003e (Radiation City)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e 11. \"Nude Looks\" - \u003cstrong\u003eBrian Borcherdt\u003c\/strong\u003e (Dusted), \u003cstrong\u003eCaithlin De Marrais\u003c\/strong\u003e (Rainer Maria), \u003cstrong\u003eRyan Pope\u003c\/strong\u003e (The Get Up Kids), \u003cstrong\u003ePost Animal\u003c\/strong\u003e (Post Animal)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e 2020 has been an intense year by any standard, with the first weeks of the global pandemic giving most of us feelings unlike anything we’d experienced before. Quarantine lockdowns and hovering dread shifted the fabric of time in a way that’s ongoing, but was at its most vivid in those early days when a new reality was sinking in. Before people eventually adapted and started using the newly mandatory downtime to learn new languages and bake bread, hours lurched by as the world sat restlessly indoors. All the shows were slowly cancelled one by one, the tours and recording sessions were scrapped, hangs and practices just stopped happening. Everything was on hold indefinitely, time lost meaning, every day felt unreal.\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eDuring the first days of lockdown, Rainer Maria’s Kaia Fischer came up with the concept of \u003cem\u003eExquisite Corpse\u003c\/em\u003e by meditating on their perspective of the newly unfolding weirdness they and so many of their creative friends were going through. Obviously a deadly pandemic was wrought with negatives, and those in particular to independent music scenes were especially devastating. But could there be another side to what felt so all-consumingly terrible? “We know what the pandemic \u003cem\u003eisn’t \u003c\/em\u003egood for,” Fischer said, “but let’s find out what it\u003cem\u003e is\u003c\/em\u003e good for.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSearching for silver linings in the earliest days of lockdown wasn’t easy, but one idea led to another. It began with the realization that every Polyvinyl artist now had a completely clear schedule at the same time. They were also mostly sitting around waiting for the storm to pass, in different states of boredom, anxiety, worry and malaise. Logistically speaking, there might not be another time when pretty much everyone was available for a collaborative project and needed something to occupy their frazzled minds. A round of emails went out explaining the project and inviting members of the Polyvinyl roster to participate. Eleven teams of four or five musicians were assembled more or less at random, bringing together artists that had in many cases never met, much less worked on music together. Remotely, each team worked from scratch to create an original song, a reworked sonic adaptation of the game where each player adds to a collaborative drawing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe scope alone is exciting, with these 11 songs combining the talents of 47 musicians from all corners of the world and all ends of the Polyvinyl family tree. Even the artwork was assembled through remote collaboration, with visual artists from Chicago, Minneapolis, and Seattle collaborating on the design in true Exquisite Corpse fashion. Musically, the results are every bit as exciting and unpredictable as the concept envisioned. New creative chemistries between the different artists and a complete absence of expectations or precedent sounds made for fearless choices in production, genre experimentation and stylistic curveballs. 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