Heavily produced, yes, but overproduced, I personally don't think so.
As with most things, it's all in context and how you use it. Low-fi
is cool when it works, sounds crappy when it doesn't. Big production
is cool when it works, bombastic-sounding when it doesn't....
Dwight's was my number 1 album last year and remains a fave, so I'm
always ready to say good things about it.
About the production, I guess one could also note that Pete (who
did the producing) has varied things on each cut, according to
what works on that particular track, etc. I mean, some of the big
Twangpop numbers have huge-sounding production, whereas (pardon,
I'm always blanking titles), the Lantern song is quite spare and the
last track, the Elvised-out re-do of the earlier track, is positively
garage-y sounding (and one of my favorite tracks on the album). My
point being that Pete has done a good job of doing what the context
demanded, rather than simply adopting a "big" production sound as an
invariable norm for all the cuts.
Over and out from Dwightsville,
-junior
