2011 Lonesome Day Records
5:10PM BST 16 Sep 2011
Girls Guns And Glory: Sweet Nothings (Lonesome Day Records)
Guns Girls And Glory are a prodigiously busy touring band and although they are well known in their local Boston music scene - and are big in France - their fourth record Sweet Nothings should bring them to a wider audience.
The album is produced by the talented Paul Q Kolderie and Alan Taylor and is an energetic mix of fast rockabilly country songs to get you up and dancing and sweet classy ballads.
Vocalist and acoustic guitarist Ward Hayden sings with swagger and is backed up by some well trained and deft musicians including Chris Herschel on electric guitar and Paul Daz Dilley (once of the Berklee College of Music) on upright and electric bass and Michael Calabrese (drums).
Don't let the gaudy CD cover put you off, there's subtlety inside including the lovely old-fashioned country song Last Night I Dreamed, which includes a clever spoken nod to Eddy Arnold's 1950s ballad Throwing Rice At The Girl I Love.
The band show their rockabilly, Buddy Holly-Essie leanings throughout but special mention for a lovely duet with Sarah Borges on 1,000 Tunesand the final affecting love song Universe Began. Boston's Girls Guns and Glory, when they are not racking up frequent driver mileage on the road, occasionally release a record. While this is their fourth, it's most significantly reflective of a lineup change from 2009. The anchor has been lead singer/songwriter Ward Hayden, and this band is something of his dream team. The new secret weapon is guitarist Chris Hersch, who thrives in the band's eclectic mix of rock-a-hillbilly. His solo on the title track sizzles, and his talent also comes to the fore in Snake Skin Belt. Hayden himself has a compelling lyrical style of being able to simultaneously wallow in despair and tell whomever to simply dust yourself off and get over it. The prime example of that twinning is the excellent opener, Baby's Got a Dream. Atmospheric and ever raising the stakes on the sonic building, it's got a delicious Brian Eno flavor. While there's occasional missteps into maudlin territory (Root Cellar), when the band keeps the guitar pedals floored (Nightime) the proceedings pop. The lyrics get lost in the stew if left on lower volumes. One occasionally wishes that Hayden's vocals reached more or delivered added power. His Dwight Yokam/Chris Isaak ethereal delivery will cause listener division on loving or hating. But to be sure, this music really benefits from being played loudly.
THE STANDARD TIME (US):
Girls Guns and Glory
Sweet Nothings – 2011 (Lonesome Day)
Reviewed by Jeff Lincoln
