DOUG MARTSCH (BUILT TO SPILL)

ALT-ROCK’S BALANCING ACT.

KEEP IT LIKE A SECRET, Built to Spill’s 1999 album, was their second for a major label. Despite producing zero singles, it remains one of alt-rock’s defining guitar albums, stuffed with riffs, arpeggios and solos, each catchier than the last, all of them cascading into each other. “It’s ambitious, and I like that about it. But that’s also the thing I don’t like,” says Doug Martsch, Built to Spill’s singer, guitarist and sole constant member. “I added a lot of things more to cover up myself than to make it big sounding.” Some 20 years later, Martsch aims for the heart of the song when playing Keep It Like a Secret live, piecing together a melodic through line from beneath all the swirling layers of fretwork. “There’s this balance in music where things need to be conventional, be pleasant to the brain and kind of make sense, but also be challenging,” he says. “That’s just what you’re constantly trying to figure out: what things are cool, and crucial, and what parts take the listener out of the song.”

RECOMMENDED TRACK “CARRY THE ZERO” (KEEP IT LIKE A SECRET)