HOME

REVIEWS

SoundsXP Presents

Next show:

BAD FRIDAY!
Peluché,
Dead Coast,
Les Sueques,
Calva Louise,
Flights of Helios,
Videocean,
Dirty Blondes
+ SoundsXP DJs

The Windmill, Brixton
Good Friday, 14th April 2017
3pm till late

Buy tickets here

On Our iPod

Latest Forum Posts

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Album Review

Son Volt
The Search Sony/BMG

Article written by Ged M - May 21, 2007

The �Americana� tag is usually attached to anything with pedal steel or any old whiny voice and acoustic guitar. But at its best, as here, it�s state of the union �folk� music. The sense of music as voice of the people was explicitly referenced in the 2005 comeback album Okemah and the Melody of Riot; now Jay Farrar and compatriots return to those themes, but couched in catchy arrangements. �The Picture� is a riot of flamboyant, Stax-like horns blasting away as Farrar sings of �hurricanes in December, earthquakes in the heartland, bad air index on a flashing warning sign�. The REM-ish �The Search� describes information overload and the surveillance society brought on by the War on Terror. �Methamphetamine� is what you expect, but the first-person narrative, Farrar�s first such song, makes this particularly gripping: �the army won�t want me after what this body�s been through�.

�Highways and Cigarettes� is the most traditional sounding song but there are far broader influences: from the Beatles-esque arrangements of �Slow Hearse�, with its hypnotic repetition of a single line, to the psychedelic rock of �Circadian Rhythms� and the Dylanish stream of consciousness �Action�. The mood is generally pessimistic and downbeat but with a glimmer of hope; the best song �Adrenaline and Heresy� might be chivvied along by a doomy piano but the ending - �high on adrenaline/ it�s a new day� - offers a spark of comfort. With plenty of minor key pop moments, this album continues Son Volt�s inspired return.

Links:
http://www.sonvolt.net