Joan Of Arc’s new album achieves its grand experiment, for better or worse

Joan Of Arc’s new album opens with three words that could just as easily serve as its tagline: “What the fuck?”
For the bulk of its career, the perpetually shifting Joan Of Arc has rarely, if ever, played things straight. Its first three albums remain the most accessible and traditionally indie-rock in its catalog, followed by soundtracks to theater pieces, lengthy instrumental works, and chopped-and-screwed Pro Tools experiments, all with a lineup just as prone to change. A cursory glance at the band’s discography shows just how much output it’s managed in its 20-plus-year existence, with Tim Kinsella always being the leader of these assorted wanderings.
Recorded at various locations throughout Chicago, He’s Got The Whole This Land Is Your Land In His Hands is the product of the band improvising hour-long jams then whittling them down to their most potent pieces. The result are songs that eschew verse-chorus constructions in favor of establishing a groove then meandering within its confines. Songs build off one idea and attempt to pack as much into them as possible, with instruments fluttering in and out as Kinsella adopts a vocal delivery that skews closer to spoken word than singing. Similarly, recent addition Melina Ausikaitis often plays the role of the band’s Flavor Flav, throwing in punchlines during Kinsella’s verses and backing him up in makeshift choruses.