Ancient Melodies of the Future

In indie rock, it’s not necessary—or cool—to be a skilled guitarist. Doug Martsch, frontman for Boise, Idaho’s Built to Spill, didn’t get the memo: He takes pride in flushing out BTS’ bittersweet melodies with thunderous chords that guitar gods like Neil Young used to wrestle into the vinyl. Martsch’s noodling has occasionally gone overboard in the past, but on these six-string symphonies he keeps it tight, slaving over every note like only a bored-out-of-his-mind Idaho native would.