IN REVIEW: Stone Temple Pilots - "Perdida"

If you can ignore the name on the cover and basically everything you've ever known about Stone Temple Pilots, there's a certain charm to be heard in the (mostly) acoustic arrangements that are the calling card of Stone Temple Pilots' eighth album. Actually, hang on, I have some comparison points I can call on from the band's past successes that will paint a picture if what listeners are in for.

Remember how refreshing it was when the band would throw an acoustic curveball on their two biggest albums? The easy-going melodic sweet spot that the acoustics lent smash hit Creep? The way acoustic guitar helped drive home Interstate Love Song before it was turned into a truck commercial? The kooky, schmaltzy Purple hidden track 12 Gracious Melodies? Well, on Perdida, let's just say that hidden track looms larger than the other examples.

This thing is a slog to sit through, 45 minutes of dirge after dirge with precious little energy to be felt from any of the performances; things start off promising enough with lead single Fare Thee Well and Three Wishes, the latter of which sounds like something you could have gotten behind on, say, Tiny Music. The problems come as the album drags on, with those thick quicksand tempos relentlessly plodding and the band trying to keep things interesting by adding instrumentation. The title track is punctuated by Spanish guitar and a Spaghetti Western feel, I Didn't Know the Time and She's My Queen get some flute, Years features a saxophone solo, Miles Away waltzes along atop a melody that's carried by strings, and You Found Yourself While Losing Your Heart adds twinkling piano and organ to the mix.

This would all be fine if we didn't have to wait until the closing two minutes of the album to hear something approximating energy, as Sunburst builds to a crescendo before fading out to a swelling string section; it's not even that good a crescendo, but after such a dull and slow journey, I'll take it. It's a moment where you can tell there's merit to be found in a project such as this, and a moment the likes of which is few and far between among the deluge of ballads and '70s soft rock schmaltz. At least they aren't mining the '90s for nostalgia, right?

Look, I'm trying to keep an open mind here, as I feel like I came off a little harsh and elitist when reviewing their last record. The idea of Perdida is solid, I'm just not sold on the execution. If you're going to release an acoustic album as a band best known for hard rock, I think you've got to do better than snail's pace AM radio schmaltz (and I'm trying to use another descriptor here, but this is schmaltz). This is a step up from the middle-of-the-road mediocrity of their last record, but it isn't about to win them a new audience or excite the fraction of their original fan base that's stuck by them.

February 7, 2020 • Rhino
Highlights Fare Thee Well • Three Wishes • You Found Yourself While Losing Your Heart