When I bought James Iha's solo cd while attending the University of
Guelph and living in a dank, basement apartment on Cedar Street,
I don't think I'd ever been as shocked and enthralled with a specific
sound. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that this one little album, released
almost secretly that I stumbled upon in a record store, has influenced
my own songwriting in a significant way.
Iha was the sound destroyer. His guitar solos and sound manipulation
while with the Pumpkins were nothing short of ethereal. He was
always the quiet but very smart one in interviews. I think he and
Billy were probably polar opposites at times, but somehow, and
for many years, they made it work for as long as they could.
But this little record, from James Iha, that is peppered with an
almost folk, country and soft-pop feel is a work of genius.One of
the songs on Iha's record is titled 'Beauty'; it's a gentle and
flowing song. This album had a way of making songs stick in your
guts and make you dream of a simpler age. More than that, though,
was the notion that Iha was a man who believed in things far
beyond himself - to maybe even the concept of a deity, and how
beauty, for him, was the knowledge that everything is working
out the way it was meant to work out.
'...theres a love that never comes back down
it feels like something is gonna happen now
the world is changing but my love will remain
do you see beauty, do you see love, do you see anything at all?'
