Mechanical Man - The Folk Implosion

Dinosaur Jr, Sebadoh, Lou Barlow's apparent lo-fi revolution. These things (and more) I don't give a fuck about. Barlow may be an influential figure in the musical worlds of many, but to me, looking back, 90s indie-rock is nothing but a bland ghetto of Kurt-damaged arseholes afraid of the future (obviously Barlow preceded Cobain, but "Kurt-damaged" is my current favourite accusation and I just needed to use it). For the most part Lou Barlow is complicit with this yawnfest, however there is one exception. Barlow's side-project, The Folk Implosion, released an album in 1999 titled One Part Lullaby and was significantly different from any of his previous musical projects. Gone was the reliance on the traditional guitar/bass/drums line-up as these songs were augmented by synths, samplers, glockenspiels and an assortment of other musical knick-knacks. Mechanical Man is the highlight of the record, a song about a robot's love for its owner. Beginning with an amateurish Casio beat, Barlow's melancholic tones evoke genuine sympathy for his robotic character - "I do everything he never would, I'm mechanical man. When I said I understood, I only knew where to stand. But I'll be there for you, if your world's on a wire. My mechanical moves fit the mood you desire". It soon becomes apparent that the robot's owner has a human lover as Barlow sings "But I'm not perfect after all, I still get jealous when he calls". It's heart-breaking stuff, especially when he continues "Something's wrong, pride was never in the plan, turn me in for a brand new mechanical man". I'd never thought of Barlow much a story-teller, but Mechanical Man is an affecting little piece. As the song begins to fade out, our robot hero concedes to his predicament as he solemnly states "I'll never try and change you, I'm programmed to forget".

Although I have a very limited knowledge of Barlow's back-catalogue, this is obviously the highlight of his career. With the subsequent Folk Implosion album being rubbish and Dinosaur Jr recently reforming it seemed that, unfortunately, someone has pressed Barlow's reset button.

Mechanical Man - The Folk Implosion