Growing up amongst a family of musicians, singer, and guitarist Joey Barro immediately found a connection with the songs he heard when the sun went down and the guitars came out at family get-togethers. As he grew, his love of music only got stronger and his taste developed over time. While many of Barro's influences are obvious (Dylan, Van Morrison, Wilco) he does his best to no replicate them but does acknowledge and add his own flourishes to them in an effort to make his sound his very own.
His band, The Antiques, have just released their third album entitled Cicadasand it's a rustic rock and roll record that sounds like the best college rock never released in the 80's. Barro's group of merry men channel the ghosts of 70's and 80's rock and roll into this jangly and twangy blend of countrified pop that jumps all around, gets noisy, gets quiet and makes a right mess of itself but has a blast doing it. Cicadasas a result sounds something like the aforementioned Wilco mixed with hints of the Shins and REM and maybe even the Replacements.
The Antiques rustic approach has this carefree attitude that eventually becomes quite endearing and it's at that point that you realize that the tarnished feel of this record makes it all the better. While the record occasionally sounds a bit rough around the edges, the sincerity and honesty of Cicadas songs help keep it above water and keep you transfixed. This isn't a record that's going to win you over on the first listen, in fact, it might take you two or three for Cicadas to reveal itself to you, but in the end it's worth the time you spend with it.
The Antiques are really at their best when they leave the quiet ballads behind and apply that carefree attitude they possess to just rocking out. When they do this they come up with songs like "Satisfied Allibis;" spastic rockers that roll around in the mud a bit before attaching themselves to your memory and taking you along for a ride. It's these songs that really lift Cicadas above just being another alt.country record and make the record worth investing time in. If you've ever liked any sort of rock and roll with a bit of twang and a bit of crunch then The Antiques are a band worth checking out. Their ability to mix rock and roll with folk and country allow them to cover all their bases without ever getting stuck in a quagmire of boredom and that's not a bad thing because I don't think I could handle ten depressing ballads.
No comments:
Post a Comment