Being in a band can be a frustrating way to make a living at times. Imagine the situation; the band you formed in high school has risen to respectable international popularity since being signed to a major record label, you\u2019ve released two reasonable selling and critically acclaimed albums and simultaneously managed to garner a decent sized cult following around the globe. Indeed, the future looks bright. Then, just when everything seems to be going fine, your drummer lets you down by succumbing to drug and alcohol problems. And let\u2019s face it, it\u2019s always the drummer! And as if that wasn\u2019t enough, you\u2019ve also fallen out with your record company and had to jump ship to a smaller independent label. <\/p>\n
This is the situation that Black Rebel Motorcycle Club found themselves in, prior to the recording of their third album Howl<\/i>. Although initially blamed on \u2018internal conflict\u2019 within the band, the truth of drummer Nick Jago\u2019s departure (and subsequent reinstatement near the end of the recording sessions) was revealed to have been caused by his battle with drug and drink addiction. The story goes that without a drummer to accompany them, remaining members Peter Hayes and Robert Levon Been were forced to stow the amplifiers and effects pedals and break out the acoustic guitars. <\/p>\n
On this record, the band has stripped back their sound to its essential blues, folk and gospel influenced heart. Pushing the acoustic guitars and vocals to the front, whilst focusing more tightly on songwriting and melody. It\u2019s these changes in sonic texture that are the first thing to hit you upon hearing Howl<\/i>. It\u2019s an album almost entirely free of the swathes of Jesus & Mary Chain inspired guitar noise previously associated with BRMC and in its place we get rootsy guitars, keening harmonica parts and rustic sounding percussion. This less cluttered approach pays off by highlighting the band\u2019s song-writing skills, with most of the material on Howl ranking amongst the strongest and most emotionally resonant that the band has ever recorded. <\/p>\n
The songs themselves range from the foot-stomping, back porch swagger of \u201cAin\u2019t No Easy Way\u201d (the lead single from the album) through to the gentle, dustbowl folk stylings of \u201cDevil\u2019s Waiting\u201d. Taking in elements of gospel and country music along the way and blending them into BRMC\u2019s own particular brand of dusty, world-weary Whilst it\u2019s easy to see this new direction as a total departure from their previously established sound, a closer examination of BRMC\u2019s back catalogue reveals that these blues, country & gospel elements have always been present in their music. Songs like \u201cSpread Your Love\u201d and \u201cSalvation\u201d from their debut album as well as \u201cAnd I\u2019m Aching\u201d from 2003\u2019s Take Them On, On Your Own<\/i> have these same influences at their core. In fact, album opener \u201cShuffle Your Feet\u201d made it\u2019s first appearance on the B-Side of the re-issued \u201cWhatever Happened To My Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll (Punk Song)\u201d single back in 2002, albeit in a embryonic form. All that has happened with this album is that these influences have been pushed to the fore instead of being buried deep in the mix. <\/p>\n There really can be little doubt that it\u2019s the band\u2019s specific intention to evoke an air of vintage, bohemian All this is largely unnecessary, the songs stand tall and proud on their own without having the retro angle overplayed in the presentation of the album. The band would do well to take the advice of another Beat Generation sage, Jack Kerouac, when he said \u201cEverything you feel will find it’s own form.\u201d The musical content of this album already tells us everything we need to know about BRMC\u2019s new direction without the band having to resort to packaging gimmicks. <\/p>\n As previously noted, the majority of the songs on this album are strong and well arranged but standout tracks include \u201cGospel Song,\u201d which initially comes on like a country cousin to R.E.M.\u2019s \u201cEverybody Hurts\u201d before expanding into a glorious, tear streaked, celebration of salvation and redemption. Then there\u2019s the menacing \u201cFault Line\u201d, which paints a haunting picture of a heroin addict\u2019s search for solace, set against a familiar \u2018rising water\u2019 metaphor. \u201cComplicated Situation\u201d is another fine song with a sound so drenched in coffeehouse ambiance and boho attitude that it could\u2019ve been recorded during the sessions for Bob Dylan\u2019s Freewheelin\u2019<\/i> album. <\/p>\n It has to be said though; occasionally there are times on this album when BRMC fail to hit the mark, like on the ponderous title track \u201cHowl\u201d or the dreary \u201cThe Line\u201d for example. But essentially, this album is a collection of moving performances that showcase Black Rebel Motorcycle Club at their most focused and song driven. Howl<\/i> is a fine record and certainly worthy of reassessment by fans of both the indie\/alternative scene and roots music. It provides a captivating snapshot of a born-again BRMC, growing up and wearing their hearts and influences on their sleeve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":29103,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8101],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-40623","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-black-rebel-motorcycle-club","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40623","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\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40623"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}