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STUDENT PRESALE NOVEMBER 13-18
AT MUTO WITH STUDENT ID

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HILL AUDITORIUM

FRIDAY, JANUARY 26
JASON ISBELL
AND THE 400 UNIT 

JJ GREY & MOFRO
LORI McKENNA

STEPHEN KELLOGG 
DEAD HORSES
CHASTITY BROWN
JOE PUG, EMCEE

SATURDAY, JANUARY 27

JOHN PRINE
AIMEE MANN

MOUNTAIN HEART 

BIRDS OF CHICAGO

THE CACTUS BLOSSOMS

THE WAR AND TREATY

JOE PUG, EMCEE

*program subject to change

TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

NO THAI! ANN ARBOR CARPETS LITTLITE

IVERS, RICKELMANN & PETERSEN CPAs 

6A — Monday, November 13, 2017
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

USA

Another western, but they get it right.
USA’s ‘Damnation’ is off 
to a solid start in premiere

In the ongoing trend of western TV shows, USA gets it right

There’s just something about 

the Wild West that captures 
the 
hearts 
of 
Americans. 

Maybe 
it’s 
the 
dilapidated 

saloon doors, or the glistening 
revolvers, 
or 
the 
folksy 

language, or maybe it’s all 
three. Either way, at the risk 
of overgeneralizing, I’ll say I 
believe that, across the country, 
the Wild West continues to 
maintain a tantalizing aura 
of mystique and possibility. 
Part of this is likely due to the 
genre’s consistently romantic 
depiction in Hollywood. From 
Sergio 
Leone’s 
Spaghetti 

Westerns during the 1960s 
to more recent entries like 
“Bone 
Tomahawk” 
and 

“Westworld,” it’s not hard to 
find the glamorized world of 
rustling tumbleweeds on your 
television or in your local AMC 
theater.

Seizing on the persistent 

popularity of the Wild West, 
USA’s latest foray into this 
genre — “Damnation” — leans 
more 
toward 
the 
“There 

Will 
Be 
Blood” 
spectrum 

of Westerns. Similar to one 
of 
my 
personal 
favorites, 

“Damnation” 
juxtaposes 

Christian 
proselytization 

with the brutality of the Wild 
West. While nowhere near as 
effective or groundbreaking as 
its distant Hollywood relative, 
“Damnation” remains a solid 
addition to the Western genre, 
with 
substantial 
potential 

for growth if it can adopt a 
less heavy-handed approach 
moving forward.

Immediately, the first thing 

I 
noticed 
while 
screening 

“Damnation” was its gorgeous 
sweeping 
landscapes. 
With 

shots of barren rolling hills 
and 
farmland 
stretching 

into the horizon, the series 
provides the type of visual 
highlight reel that audiences 

have come to expect from their 
Westerns. I’ve never visited 
Iowa or Kentucky — the two 
locales featured in the show — 
but I’ve been to Nebraska and 
Tennessee, so I feel marginally 
qualified to hazard a guess 
that “Damnation”’s vistas are 
accurate for these two states 
during the 1930s.

Side note: if you’re from 

Iowa or Kentucky and want to 
dispute my scenic evaluation, 
feel free to pay a visit to my 
editor — he lives on East 
University Ave. and simply 
loves critics dropping by.

Beyond 
its 
excellent 

cinematography, “Damnation” 
succeeds with its talented cast. 

Frankly, I had no idea who the 
hell Killian Scott (“Calvary”) 
was before watching the show, 
but I can now say that I’m 
quite a fan. In the series, Scott 
carves out a distinct identity 
as a manipulative roaming 
preacher 
who 
knows 
how 

to handle a Colt .32 as well 
as he knows Genesis verses. 
Elsewhere, fellow unknown 
Teach Grant (“The Tall Man”) 
effectively makes the most of 
his limited screen time in the 
show’s premiere. The show’s 
veteran presence comes in the 
form of established Wild West 
actor Christopher Heyerdahl 
(“Tin Star”), who turns in a 
quality performance as the 
cliché, devil-may-care cowboy. 
There’s nothing new about 
Heyerdahl’s 
character, 
but 

every Western needs a cunning 
villain, and Heyerdahl does a 
great job of inspiring hatred 
for his persona.

I 
especially 
appreciated 

Heyerdahl’s 
role 
since 
he 

comes to “Damnation” after 
a five-season run on AMC’s 
own wild west series, “Hell 
on Wheels.” As a longtime 
Western fan, I couldn’t help 
but love that the show cast 
Heyerdahl in a prominent role 
in a Western a year after he 
finished his run on a different 
Western. It instantly recalled 
in my mind Leone’s usage 
of 
Clint 
Eastwood 
(“Gran 

Torino”) in three back-to-
back-to-back wild west forays.

As flattering at it is for 

“Damnation” to be compared 
to a Leone Western, the two 
entries diverge in terms of their 
plotlines. While a typical Leone 
Western is comprehensive yet 
concise, “Damnation” is just 
comprehensive to a fault. The 
series suffers from its gradual 
pacing 
that 
extends 
every 

scene a few minutes too long. 
By drawing out every shot, 
the show becomes somewhat 
clumsy, spending five minutes 
on a scene that audiences 
understand in two. It’s not the 
worst quality in the world for 
a series to possess in an age 
of meticulous television, but 
it renders the show tedious to 
seasoned viewers who rely on 
more succinct storylines and 
more exciting writing — both 
of which “Damnation” lack 
— to keep them entertained. 
“Damnation” could use a little 
bit of “Westworld”’s magic in 
this area, so someone dial up 
Jonathan Nolan (“The Dark 
Knight”) for USA.

With 
some 
added 
flair 

and a few trimmed scenes, 
“Damnation” 
could 
truly 

cement itself as the network 
alternative 
to 
“Westworld,” 

which is already dominating 
the 
small-screen 
western 

genre after only one season. 
It’s a long way to go for 
“Damnation” to reach such 
heights, so it better holster its 
pistol and start climbing.

CONNOR GRADY

Daily Arts Writer

TV REVIEW

CAPITOL

Sam Smith is back with his silly, sappy love songs.
Sam Smith proves king 
of the modern love song

On his sophomore album, Smith’s heartbreak won’t destory you

After a three year absence, 

British vocalist Sam Smith is 
back, and as cliché as it sounds, 
he really is better than ever. 
With his sophomore album, 
The Thrill of it All, Smith 
exploits and emphasizes all of 
the pieces that made his debut 
project, In the Lonely Hour, 
a huge hit, giving listeners a 
record that is Sam Smith to 
the max. Piano-driven beats, 
forty-piece background choirs, 
and the singer’s out-of-this-
world vocal talent are the 
primary components of the 
singer’s formula for love-song 
success, and they all make 
The Thrill of it All a gripping 
album. These proven pieces 
are met with Smith’s new and 
obvious musical growth, and 
when combined with a venture 
into 
the 
artist’s 
relatively 

undiscussed 
homosexuality, 

they convey one major thing: 
Smith is the king of the modern 
pop love song.

The 
album’s 
first 
track, 

“Too Good at Goodbyes,” is a 
pleasant kick in the teeth, an 
enjoyable overload of all things 
Sam Smith. It opens with the 
classic 
Smith-piano 
combo 

that listeners so thoroughly 
enjoyed on In the Lonely Hour. 
This sound is comfortable for 
both Smith and the listener, 
and 
plays 
right 
into 
the 

aforementioned 
love-song 

formula (piano + voice = really 
good Sam Smith love song), 
making it the perfect way 
to open an album with such 
weight and anticipation. At this 
point, the singer is warming 

the listener up for what’s to 
come; instead of throwing 
us head-first into cold and 
unfamiliar water, Smith guides 
us slowly down the steps feet-
first into the shallow end so we 
can properly acclimate to the 
temperature. Eventually, the 
track picks up with a bouncy 
beat and infectious melody — 
it’s new, but it feels and sounds 
like your forgotten favorite 
track from a few years ago. 
When the massive choir hits 
(the “choir” is typically just 
a massive layering of Smith’s 
vocals), it’s all over; the song is 
“Stay With Me” times ten, and 
the listener has no choice but 

to submit to the power of the 
love song.

Many of the songs on the 

album follow this same trend. 
They are built on something 
comfortable 
and 
familiar, 

and many could have easily 
appeared on In the Lonely 
Hour, but Smith introduces 
something 
new 
and 
fresh 

that is just enough to make 
the tracks exciting, rather 
than obsolete. “Say It First” is 
grounded on a gloomy, guitar-
driven beat that is right in 
Smith’s wheelhouse, but the 
chorus introduces electronic 
vocals akin to something Diplo 
might 
endorse. 
“One 
Last 

Song” opens with a sliced and 
pitched-up vocal sample that 
one could hear on a Kanye 
West track, but it quickly falls 

into a classic and infallible 6/8 
shuffle that Smith murders 
with his soulful belting. This 
tactic is safe and pragmatic; 
Smith knows what works, and 
he blends the proven with the 
experimental to remind the 
world of his talent. He’s grown 
as an artist over the past three 
years, and the proof is in the 
pudding.

Smith 
is 
most 
at 
the 

vanguard 
on 
“HIM,” 
a 

song that professes Smith’s 
homesexuality in bold, and 
details his personal struggle. 
The track opens with, “Holy 
Father, we need to talk / I have 
a secret that I can’t keep,” 
addressing his pain head-on; 
raised religious and educated 
in catholic school, it’s not 
surprising that the now openly-
gay vocalist has struggled with 
the implications of his sexual 
orientation. In the chorus, 
Smith sends a message to the 
world, singing “Don’t you try 
to tell me that God doesn’t 
care for us / It is him I love, it 
is him I love.” This song marks 
the first instance in which 
Smith 
explicitly 
discusses 

his sexuality in his music, 
contributing to the already 
established trend of blending 
new with old.

While some might get tired 

of Smith’s tales of unrequited 
love, such is the singer’s brand, 
and at a short and sweet 35 
minutes, The Thrill of it All 
will 
certainly 
not 
dampen 

your thoughts with ideas of 
heartbreak. Take a half-hour 
out of your day to indulge in 
the moving love songs and 
other-worldly voice of the self-
professed diva boy — you won’t 
regret it.

ALBUM REVIEW

“Damnation”

Series Premiere

USA

Tuesdays at 10 p.m.

MIKE WATKINS

Daily Arts Writer

The Thrill of It 

All 

Sam Smith 

Capitol