Former fifteen-year-old punk prodigy and front-man of Radish, Ben Kweller is probably sick of being introduced as a former fifteen-year old punk prodigy and front man of Radish.

And rightly so: his first full-length release, Sha Sha, was one of the most infectious pieces of genre-hopping indie-pop that any of us are likely to hear. Two years later, this is the follow-up; and somehow, despite being almost literally born and raised a songwriter, it still sounds like it’s BK’s first go (a pretty damn good first go) at making something of himself in the music world.

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As with Sha Sha, his lyrics are often quite charmingly ingenuous which, coupled with the little-boy-lost voice and gangling moon-faced looks, gives On My Way an air of musical virginity quite at odds with reality. Take the closing song, Different But The Same: You can win / And you’ll take home the gold medallion / And ride the wobbly wave of fame / That is why you came.

By rights, unless a song has been written for The Wombles or Bob the Builder, there should be no way for the word ‘wobbly’ to find its way onto a lyrics-sheet. But Kweller sings with such good-natured sincerity that it’s impossible to object. The down-beat On My Way opens in a similar vein: I want to kill this man but he turned around and ran. / I’ll kill him with karate that I learned in Japan. Kweller somehow still lives in the childhood world of endless American sunshine, where bikes ride to the park and city pools / It’s summer now, empty the schools (My Apartment), and boys and girls play make-believe: ‘You be Betty!’ / ‘I’ll be Betty!’ / ‘And I’ll play Joe!’ / ‘You play Joe!’ / And we’ll crawl out of my window (Hospital Bed).

Another trait which pleased me is a bit of inter-album lyrical continuity; everyone who’s heard the first album’s Commerce, TX will remember Ben claiming: I’ve got a pet hedgehog / he’s drinking jaeger all day, but the next verse began: I’ve got a new best friend / Ann Disaster’s her name / we’re passing out on the carpet / and our attributes are the same. Sure enough, Miss Disaster returns with her own song: You made a comeback and now you’re ready / to attack with our eyes wide open / I know what you want / you want a piece of me. Guess that didn’t work out too well then.

Yet for all this, BK still knows how to rock. The punk’s still there in the background somewhere, in the abruptness and economy of some of the choruses, in some of the guitar sounds. But there’s more scope to his new work than there was with Radish, if only because he can now do quiet as well as loud. Sound-wise, it’s all very sixties somehow; no Cubase or Kaos boxes here, which will suit some listeners better than others. Also, for an artist who sometimes gets labelled ‘anti-folk’, it’s pretty folksy too; Kweller admits to being a massive Bob Dylan fan, and although they don’t sound alike, I think there’s a similarity in the respect given to proper song-writing.

On My Way isn’t as diverse as Sha Sha. which makes it less interesting; and there’s certainly nothing on it as insanely catchy as Wasted And Ready. Even lyrically, if you fancy trying BK out, his debut is the record to get (though if you can get hold of any live tracks, they’re well worth a listen too). But once you’re familiar with it, a second invitation to Kweller’s benevolent, sunlit world will be hard to resist. E.Kelly

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