GUN OUTFIT - Dream All Over

Paradise Of Bachelors has shed its status as a mere brand stamped on phantom physical products to become a recognizable, successful label under the name of Hiss Golden Messenger (who has since “moved up a level” to Merge), and is now continuing its interesting work of building a scene with its own distinctive character. Each artist, with their own stamp, is offering a continuation of the Americana genre rendered in a more contemporary way, but always with the elegance and sensitivity that mark what can by now be considered the mythical ancestor of it all, MC Taylor.

Un lavoro di ricerca confermato dal fatto che i Gun Outfit non sono all’esordio, ma al quarto disco, presentato appunto come il loro più raffinato ed elegante. È in modo non dissimulato (e rispettoso) ma vibrante che sfogano in “Dream All Over” la passione per i Velvet Underground (“Matters To A Head”), ambientandoli non nella New York d’avanguardia, ma nel Missouri più umido, come dimostrano le molli riflessioni di “Only Ever Over”.

What unfolds is a provincial landscape (perhaps a touch noir: "Wordly Way" could be the Grateful Dead/Black Angels-flavored insert in the latest season of "True Detective", just as "Angelino" is the inevitable bar-room ballad) marked by great formal skill, though without any truly striking moments.

The only track with any real compositional drive is the opener "Gotta Wanna", which may recall the droning Americana of War On Drugs and Kurt Vile, as well as the on the road minimalism of the latest AA Bondy, with its steady drumbeat and guitars that seem to quiver rather than actually play.

Some of the frontman's more off-the-cuff vocal turns might bring to mind Mac DeMarco (the laid-back “Compromise”), rounding out the picture of an album that manages, in the best Paradise Of Bachelors tradition, to be traditionalist “with personality.”

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google

11/10/2015