Ball of Wax 39 Songs: Julia Massey and the Five Finger Discount – Turn It Into Everything

Julia Massey and her band return to Ball of Wax for the second volume in a row, giving us another track from their fine new album, A.L.I.T.E. (You know I really like this band because I keep having them back, despite the challenge their seven-word name adds to the CD face formatting.) “Turn It Into Everything” is a swirling, expansive ode to the universe, packing a lot of dynamics and emotion into less than three minutes. There’s a lot to like here, but I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the bass wizardry of Geoff Gibbs, whose playing adds so much to this track. The guy is all over the fretboard, alternating seamlessly between deep-pocket rhythms, melodic leads, and percussive bursts of chords. This is the kind of playing that can easily veer into tasteless wankery, but everything he does makes sense and has its place – imagine Les Claypool as a session guy on prescription mood stabilizers – and the end result is a really richly developed piece of music. Word has it that A.L.I.T.E. was Gibbs’s last outing with the band, I can only imagine he’s already sorely missed. I know we’ll soon be  hearing more great songs from Julia and whoever else she chooses to associate with, though.