They hit the American jam band scene like a ton of bricks, offering a new breath of fresh air to the genre where bands such as Phish and Widespread Panic have either broken up or gone on hiatus. But on their latest release,
One Step Closer, they offer more than just the (Grateful) Deadhead neo-hippie jamming; Sure in the past they played out extended tracks of sensible, now I do mean sensible, jamming, but with this studio effort, they become more song oriented, which to many jam-band aficionados might be the kiss of death, but they keep the music interesting and they have the strong songs to put the musical endurance at the forefront, but on a different level, a level that is at all of ours.
With semi-acoustic with electric overtones, the band mixes folk, blues, Americana, and rock together with layered instrumentation where elements of Bob Dylan, Little Feat, Uncle Tupelo, Wilco/Son Volt, and Leftover Salmon are present. Dynamic in their performances, hook laden tracks such "
Sometimes a River," "
Silence in Your Head," and the title cut offer high pop fodder while tracks such as the Dylan-esque "
Big Compromise," the Daniel Lanois influenced "
Rainbow Serpent," and the groove driven blues of "
Drive" are where the band extend their headroom for more technical approaches to the record's sound. Offering the subdued approach rather than squashing melodies together, they all are playing as a unit here, in the same room (as most people coin jam-band music as five or six guys playing different songs at the same time in different rooms).
One Step Closer offers a more cosmopolitan approach, but it reaches everybody, offering something for everybody and will more than likely get this band notoriety beyond the Bonnaroo scene. It's not as if they are doing it to sound commercial, the songs are heartfelt and you can hear the instrumental improvisation wanting to burst out, but they will leave that for their live performances.
Written by
Hashman Saturday, November 12, 2005
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