The Joplin, Missouri residents brings us 11 new tunes and a couple new members for this third album. Now with Rachel Ammons and Smilin’ Bob Lewis on board, there’s some new flavor to the Ben Miller Band’s rootsy rock formula, and Ammons even lends her vocals on occasion.<\/p>\n
Though the album gets off to an eerie start with the low organ of \u201cNothing Gets Me Down,\u201d it doesn’t take long for the warm acoustic guitars and dual gender vocals to infiltrate the sparse tune. \u201cAkira Kurosawa\u201d then picks up the pace with bluesy electric guitars and loud percussion as it builds into a fun, psych-influenced rocker. This leads well into the fuzzed out guitars and call-and-response rock of \u201cOne More Time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The middle of the album stays loud and fun with \u201cBig Boy,\u201d which yields a mild grunge influence before the accordion and horn rowdiness of \u201cTrapeze.\u201d This track sounds like a party at the foot of a mountain and is one of the best moments here. \u201cLighthouse\u201d then brings us to an orchestral atmosphere where keys take the lead as elegant strings support the softness. Meanwhile, on the only tune not written by just Miller, \u201cRedwing Blackbird,\u201d female vocals come right to the forefront. <\/p>\n
The last few tracks brings us even more varied sounds. \u201cLife Of Crime\u201d is bluesy boogie rock affair, and \u201cSketchbook\u201d is the absolute best moment here with a quirky, jumpy, retro folk tune. The two longest and calmest offerings end the listen. \u201cMississippi Cure\u201d is the best of the pair, where aching strings break into a genre defying Ben Miller Jam Band exit.<\/p>\n
An eclectic listen that moves all over the rock spectrum, Choke Cherry Tree <\/i>features a band whose layering and strong song craft could soundtrack a campfire, a hoedown, and a stadium. It’s an album where no two tunes sound alike, but all are worth spending some considerable time with.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":33585,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[10240],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-45406","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-ben-miller-band","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45406","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\/89"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=45406"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=45406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}