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Oct 12, 2009 Web Exclusive By Frank Valish

Lou Barlow may be the unluckiest man in indie rock history. Having been kicked out of Dinosaur Jr. in the late ‘80s, Barlow saw success with Sebadoh, only to have his musical partner, Eric Gaffney, quit (they only recently reunited for a 2007 tour). Then, to continue the trend, Barlow’s post-Sebadoh collaboration with John Davis, The Folk Implosion, tanked when Davis abruptly left on the release of the band’s 1999 major label debut.

“I’ve worked with a lot of people who I really like personally, dynamic people, but who all have their own ambivalent relationships with even making music,” says Barlow. “In Eric Gaffney and Jon Davis, there’s two incredibly talented people who just were ambivalent about making music and touring, and doing it with me, in the end.”

It is only fair, then, that Barlow currently finds himself in the midst of a solo rebirth. His new album, Goodnight Unknown, is one of his best in years, splitting the difference between fuzzy lo-fi rockers and bare acoustic pieces. From the raucous “Sharing” to the gentle “The One I Call,” to the grave melody of “I’m Thinking…,” the album presents Barlow as serious, contemplative, inspired, and, in the case of “Too Much Freedom,” even unafraid to delve into political commentary.

“I grew up with a lot of really preachy, hardcore punk music—The Dead Kennedys and stuff like that,” says Barlow. “That’s not the kind of lyrics that I want to write. I want to write something that gets at this weird gray cloud—the cloud of information, the overload of information, the overload of people’s opinions…. And [the phrase] ‘too much freedom:’ I just think that’s an interesting thing.”

Goodnight Unknown comes at a musically fertile time for Barlow. Since 2005, he has been firmly established in the newly reunited Dinosaur Jr., which has released two new albums and toured consistently since reforming. But the history there, like that of Barlow’s other bands, is one of tension and strife, dating back to when Barlow decided to release his own tape of songs directly alongside Dinosaur Jr.‘s sophomore album. Now, with yet another fine set of songs competing with Dinosaur Jr. for attention, one hopes Barlow does not find himself in a similar position.

“All this time I’ve been away from them, I’ve been building my own thing,” says Barlow, who will open for Dinosaur Jr. with his new band this fall. “[Before the reunion] I was, in a weird way, totally parallel to J [Mascis]. We were playing the same clubs, releasing records to more or less the same core audience. So it was kind of a weird thing to jump into Dinosaur and then become totally the second player.”

“It’s definitely unique,” Barlow continues. “Even seeing if it’s going to work, with me opening these shows, and how the balance is going to happen. But I’ve just tried to be as careful as I could. I really love playing with Dinosaur, and I’m really into the new records. What we do live is so powerful and, in a way, it’s equal to anything that I do. In some way it’s better than anything I could ever do. So, I’ve just got to try to do both.”