“Fewer Broken Pieces” – David Bazan
(Words/music: David Bazan, available on Fewer Moving Parts, Barsuk Records 2007)

Bands break up all the time, but we still shrug our shoulders at band breakups when the band in question is essentially a single person’s creative output.  When David Bazan announced that Pedro the Lion was disbanding, it prompted a few puzzled looks since it was primarily his project.  Bazan tackles this directly on his first solo EP, turning the awkward conversations with friends about “going solo” into a song asserting his control.  Bazan makes a fair point at the center of the song – “fewer moving parts means fewer broken pieces,” namely that fewer individuals involved with a recording means fewer people to placate.  Even though he wrote nearly 90% of the Pedro the Lion songs, Bazan authored and performed all of the songs on his EP – a first in his recording career.  Even if it sounds like it could have fit in on the last Pedro the Lion album, Bazan now owns every single second of the recording – every note, every word, every stray sound. 

Aside from Bazan’s astute observation (even if it’s a bit of an oversimplification), I’m drawn in to the casual reference he makes to “David Byrne on Bob Costas.”  I can’t find the clip online, but a message on a Talking Heads board summarizes the conversation Byrne and Costas had in 2004, placing Byrne as the “focal point of the Talking Heads and the outlet from which all artistical [sic] talent flowed from.”  In this context, it’s easy to see why Bazan would look to shed his Pedro the Lion moniker – since he garnered all of the credit for his band, he may as well take it.  While Bazan surrounded himself with capable musicians, I’m not sure it’s quite the same as the Talking Heads.  Yes, like David Byrne, Bazan was the creative core of the band, but in the studio Bazan bore a greater burden than Byrne.  Byrne also had much bigger egos to contend with, sharing writing credits with his bandmates and often producer Brian Eno.  It’s a slippery slope – Byrne might have been the primary songwriter and creative influence, but he doesn’t become famous without his band (or Eno’s guidance, probably).  Bazan, on the other hand, was the natural focal point of his band.  In his case, he was taking complete ownership of what was 95% his in the first place.  Byrne went off on his own to show how he could shine independently (and, arguably, has succeeded).  If Bazan has anything to prove by going solo, it’s to himself.

More on David Bazan: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm