Monday, January 28, 2013
It’s New Music Monday!
If you recall, the last Monday of the month was my review new music
day. It’s been almost a year since I
dropped a little science on such a topic.
I like to share the music that moves me with my friends and family. Especially, the real good stuff. So this month, I’ve gone round and round with the music I was going to
review. And as I write this sentence, I
still don’t know. I’m opting for
reviewing the dark yet introspective album rather than the uplifting and
inspirational one. The record is so
vivid and so real, it can’t be avoided.
This album was a surprise.
In what would later be titled the ‘Best Sick Day Ever,’ I discovered
this band. And strangely enough, it was
an incarnation of a band I all ready really loved. Let’s start with a brief description of the
best sick day ever.
I don’t normally get sick. More importantly, I don’t
normally sit for hours and watch TV. But
on this day, I felt like shit, stayed home from work, and posted up on the
couch all day. I turned on the channel Palladia,
which is a channel that only plays concerts and performances in HD and
surround sound. I sat for about six hours and watch six different concerts
and/or performances. Let’s see there was
Ray LaMontagne, the Dropkick Murphys, Later with Jools Holland, the Foo Fighter
Back and Forth, and this band; The Horrible Crowes.
The Horrible Crowes is a side project of Brian Fallon. He’s the lead singer of one of my favorite
bands, the Gaslight Anthem. I had no
idea of this side project. The first
exposure was a one hour Palladia show of their first show EVER at the
Troubador. The background music at the
start of the show was the Gaslight Anthem as the band milled about
backstage. Somehow I just knew this was
going to be a new kind of awesome. They
take the stage and I realize it is Fallon and he introduces his band. Instantly, I’m online looking up the band
find more about them.
While the Gaslight Anthem is more alt, punk, Americana, blue
collar rock, the Horrible Crowes is the dark and subdued social commentary on
the misdirection of life. Every song is
minimal and the lyrics are at a depth that Fallon never thought would work on a
Gaslight album. Perfect music for
sitting at your desk, staring out the window in the dark raining afternoon,
feeling the misery and emptiness, while looking for your resilience... Depressing and uplifting all at once. As you listen, you are taken to rock bottom and then lifted back up through faith.
“Elsie,” the band’s only album came out in 2011. As I
mentioned above, it’s very brooding and contemplative. This is Tom Waits as inspiration. “Elsie” could easily be classified night-time
music due to its dark message, instrumentation, and slow tempos. The music is soulful and intense and Fallon
takes more liberty in the music, subject matter, the vocals, and the lyrics
than he could in the Gaslight Anthem. It’s
cinematic and dark and the songs are about conviction, lost opportunities, and
loneliness. Things that we all relate to
on a variety of levels.
The lyricism by Fallon does not disappoint. He exhibits masterful storytelling abilities,
where his gravelly, rugged voice operates with the heartfelt conviction, like a
pulpit preacher that is vivid and colorful.
Musically, there is masterful work done on the guitar by Ian
Perkins. The keys and percussion help
the elegant music rumble and sway through the emotions of the stories. The summation of all of the pieces creates
something creepily eerie and yet strangely familiar to the heart.
How do you pick a trio of songs that represent the album
when ALL of them are amazing and representative of the epic nature of this
album? I can’t so I’m suggesting you
take the time to listen to the album in its entirety here:
Described as ‘hymns for the lonely’ by Fallon himself, the
Horrible Crowes is something that you must listen to. “Elsie” is a lesson in how to capture what
emotions precisely sound like. Think of a
time capsule filled with old photographs, torn love notes, and mementos of past
mistakes. This is its soundtrack. We’ve
been these songs. Some of us are still a
part of them.
Play the video for 'Behold the Hurricane' here:
Play the video for 'Behold the Hurricane' here:
0 Comments:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
