My first encounter with Joan of Arc was live. In retrospect, this is where their music translates best. Tim Kinsella's ragged, impassioned voice is chilling live, and it was easy to get lost in their beautiful-yet-sloopy-but-only-in-a-shamblingly-beautiful-way acoustic/droning guitar based jaunts. Recorded, it's harder to ignore the weaker moments. As one listens to the details of the music sometimes Kinsella's non-sequitur populated lyrics are more ridiculous than clever, and the music can be more aimless than enveloping. But when it all comes together on record it's just as captivating as it is live.
Eventually, All at Once is not a drastic change from this typical Joan of Arc formula, with the main difference being the album might be described as a slightly more mellow turn for the band. Kinsella is less given to his vocal climaxes, more content to softly sing over the music, only occasionally letting loose some impassioned yells. The range in quality on the album also sticks to the standard a few great high points, a few irritating low points, and mostly music that sort of washes over you in a nice and enjoyable way.
As in the past, the best moments are terrifically emotionally affecting. The title track leaves the listener with a warm melancholy feeling through its understated acoustic guitar and xylophone flourishes, while Kinsella reflects about how "understand understanding is understanding not understanding [etc]". "Many Times I've Mistaken" features the Kinsella non-sequitur chorus "and off white / is now the new white / everything/ aayyeeoo aayyeeoo aayyeeoo" which he manages to sing in such a way to be truly depressing instead of just kind-of-sort-of-clever [note: 'aayyeeoo' translates slightly more elegantly when Kinsella sings it].
The worst moments are again annoying or boring. The title of the track "Miss Cat Piss and Peppermint" is most likely purposely absurd [the song does open with the line "Miss Cat Piss and Peppermint / Whatever that is"], but it's still so stupid to distract from its engaging music, and exemplifies when Kinsella is trying too hard. And the music in "You Can't Change Your Mind" goes nowhere interesting, culminating in a silly, distracting background chant of "all is one / all is none".
But the majority of moments on the record are simply nice to let drift through your head and take you along for a ride to the high and low points that makes Joan of Arc who they are. [see the rest of the album for examples of these types of songs]