The Brought Low is a rock and roll trio from Brooklyn who are a
\nunique creature. They play retro-rock without sounding like they
\nare copying from the numerous influences they claim as influences.
\nInstead, they are respectful of their musical elders, all the while
\nbashing out some pretty tasty licks which should please most any
\nrock fan.<\/p>\n
Their self-titled debut disc is just under 42 minutes long, but
\nis more than enough to remind everyone that rock and roll is by no
\nmeans dead, and the ’70s were good for more than just disco. Yet
\nthere is something disconcerting about what I hear on this disc.
\nMaybe it’s that the group is still working on getting its chops
\ntogether, and they haven’t yet reached the level of what they’re
\ncapable of. Maybe they purposely held back their sonic assault,
\nwondering how much retro-rock listeners will be able to take.<\/p>\n
Whatever the case is, this trio – guitarist\/vocalist Benjamin
\nHoward Smith, bassist\/vocalist Dean Rispler and drummer Nick Heller
\n– prove they have a promising future ahead of them, and their first
\neffort suggests that even greater things lie ahead. As a result,
\nthis disc is a little unfulfilling, yet quite enjoyable straight
\nout of the box.<\/p>\n
Right from the get-go,
\nThe Brought Low<\/i> has an air about it which suggests that the
\nband lives for the song, not the rock and roll image that so many
\nother acts seem to follow – and if you can’t appreciate the music,
\ntoo bad. Tracks like “Goddamn God Bless,” “Outer Borough Dust Run”
\nand “Deathbed” – the latter sounds like it’s a modern-day version
\nof Steve Goodman’s “A Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request” – all
\ndemonstrate the power this band has. There are occasional tips of
\nthe hat to such groups as Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Who, but never
\ndoes it seem like The Brought Low is copying the original groups
\nverbatim. Instead, they’ve diluted the essence of their influences
\nand worked them into their own original songs. Actually, that’s
\npretty talented right there.<\/p>\n
Yet
\nThe Brought Low<\/i> suggests a group still growing inside its
\nown skin. Tracks like “What I Found” and “Kings & Queens” are
\nby no means bad, but they have ghosts of what could have been. I
\ndon’t claim to know exactly what’s missing from these particular
\nsongs, and whatever’s missing doesn’t inflict fatal wounds upon the
\nfinal products. But one wonders what would have happened had things
\nbeen kicked up just one more notch somewhere along the way.<\/p>\n
Minor complaint aside,
\nThe Brought Low<\/i> is a breath of fresh air in a field which
\nsometimes is thicker than a Los Angeles sunrise. This is most
\ndefinitely a group to keep a very close eye on. Something tells me
\nthat, with a little bit more seasoning and their remaining focused
\non the music, The Brought Low will be riding high in the world of
\nrock music.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6702],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-37317","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-brought-low","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37317"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37317"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}