Vestiges<\/i><\/a><\/u> would be \u201ca full-band record that rocks.\u201d<\/p>\nTo be sure, Last Charge\u2019s ninth release In The Wind<\/i> delivers a series of powerful full-band arrangements featuring the group\u2019s core of Vest (lead vocals, guitars), Shawn Murray (drums and percussion), Pemberton Roach (bass, background vocals), and Bob Stander (lead and solo guitar), supplemented by guest shots by many familiar names from past Last Charge outings. But simply turning up the volume does little to alter the essential character of Last Charge\u2019s music; it\u2019s hyper-literate, insightful, passionate and adventurous in ways that inevitably remind of artists like Richard Thompson and James McMurtry.<\/p>\n
The songs here, as has become typical for Last Charge, feature layer upon layer of sound, rhythm, and meaning, often requiring multiple listens to suss out their essence. Opener \u201cThorn\u201d propels the listener into a waking nightmare as our narrator grapples with insomnia, struggling not to let his anxieties consume him. The arrangement is appropriately cacophonous with dirty bass, stuttering drums, stabs of guitar and sudden interjections of sonic graffiti and ghostly background vocals.<\/p>\n
\u201cTalk To The Hand\u201d and \u201cImaginary Friend\u201d follow with a one-two punch of socio-political anxiety. The former features eerie, rather jazzy guitar building to a brief, wild solo, with multiple voices interjecting in a radio play examining the current social climate and how surreal it often feels. The latter builds a whirlwind of sound with urgent, repeating guitar figures over pulsing, buzzy bass and a complex drum pattern, another knotty yet appealing construction. Despite the premise that the figure described in the lyrics is imaginary, certain details suggest otherwise: \u201cNo depravity too low to make the fanbase howl \/ He\u2019s got the number for the hotline directly to your fears \/ Saves you the nuisance of consulting that thing between your ears.\u201d The brilliant tactic of doubling the main riff with both whistling and a stylophone amplifies the sensation of a world spinning off its axis.<\/p>\n
The one straight up four-on-the-floor rock song here is its own kind of elbow in the audience\u2019s ribs. \u201cSlash And Burn\u201d may have the backbeat required to get the crowd dancing, but the lyrics are a winking exercise in self-awareness: \u201cYou didn\u2019t come to hear some long-haired lexicographer \/ Empty out his word sack,\u201d Vest declares, before adding: \u201cAnd all those compositions \/ Of nuance, elegance, and poise \/ All those exotic time signatures \/ Well, screw that noise.\u201d Stander puts an exclamation point on the track with another bruising, superb solo.<\/p>\n
The lilting, limber \u201cKindred Minds\u201d offers a tribute to a source of inspiration, reflecting on the enduring power of the written word: \u201cYou left these lessons for me to find \/ Floating downstream on the current of time \/ The right words, when I needed them most \/ A guiding hand from your ghost.\u201d And then \u201cLast Day Of The Year\u201d eases back to a gentle shuffle with Nick Vest\u2019s trumpet counterpointing plucked electric bass on this contemplative escapee from a late-night jazz club (\u201cLast day of the year \/ No absolutions, no genie appears \/ To promise you that \/ The next one will be \/ Without sorrows\u201d).<\/p>\n
The first of two atmospheric instrumentals, \u201cHidden Path\u201d showcases Gwendolyn Vest\u2019s resonant flute-on-delay and wordless vocals over skittering drums and burbling bass, a number that\u2019s somehow both soothing and unsettling. \u201cBridgeport Shanty\u201d follows, a thrummy, swaying number essaying a troubled narrator\u2019s ferry ride across Long Island Sound: \u201cThe cars below queue in obedient rows \/ Nestled in from stern to prow \/ While every word she ever said \/ Rushes like sand through the funnel of now.\u201d It\u2019s an indie-rock song that feels like an Edward Hopper painting.<\/p>\n
The album\u2019s third act brings all of the above-outlined troubles home, offering both tough sledding and a substantial payoff. First up is the title track, all coiled tension and silvery, gorgeous guitar lines as the narrator tries to help a loved one rise to meet a difficult moment: \u201cYou were born to face the wind \/ Sky threatening to rain any minute and \/ Your hair lashing around your head like \/ Flames writing unspeakable language.\u201d A similar theme plays out in an even more vulnerable context on \u201cToo Young,\u201d a moving, shimmery poem of encouragement to a troubled younger person, accelerating into this gorgeously rendered chorus: \u201cTake my arms and make them your home \/ Take my love until you feel strong \/ Take my joy until you find the path \/ To your own.\u201d<\/p>\n
The charged atmosphere begins to brighten with the second instrumental, \u201cComing Home,\u201d again featuring Gwendolyn Vest on flute, this time in an airy duet with Jean-Paul on acoustic guitar that\u2019s 1:59 of pure beauty. It\u2019s the perfect appetizer for the album-closing \u201cJubilation,\u201d a pumping rocker that lives up to its name, celebrating the love of its narrator\u2019s life with so many quotable lines that I won\u2019t even try.<\/p>\n
In The Wind<\/i> finds frontman Vest once again working in close collaboration with co-producer and mixer Jim Watts, who also contributes backing vocals, guitar, percussion, and the aforementioned stylophone. And while Murray, Roach and Stander remain the core of the band, repeat guests such as backing vocalists Pam Aronoff, Martha Trachtenberg and Tom Griffith\u2014not to mention Nick and Gwendolyn Vest\u2014are practically honorary members by now.<\/p>\n
As always, Vest\u2019s meticulously crafted lyrics deliver clear-eyed observations and sometimes-difficult truths. For one: life is rarely easy or simple, so when those moments of joy arrive, celebrate them with all you\u2019ve got. In The Wind<\/i> is the work of a songwriter of tremendous power and sensitivity, a storyteller who might not have all the answers, but has honed a gift for asking artfully drawn questions. \u201cDiaphanous insight,\u201d indeed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":35108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7666],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-46985","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-last-charge-of-the-light-horse","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46985","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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=46985"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=46985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}