Marking Two Cow Garage’s 15th year in existence, the 12 songs on ‘Brand New Flag’, apparently, ‘metaphorically demonstrate how one’s worldview can simultaneously shape and be shaped by one’s experience.’ ‘Movies’, a work of stripped-back acoustic-guitar led country / Americana with close harmonies sets the album off to a pleasant enough but rather slow and underwhelming start as they pine over the pipe dreams of the everyman: ‘they should put me in the ballgame / White House / movies…’
‘Terror Ride’ picks up the pace and goes for the full band sound. There are, perhaps predictably, a number of tracks owe a heavy debt to Bruce Springsteen, notably ‘This Little Light’, ‘Continental Distance’, and History Now!’. These tracks go all out for the uptempo anthemic standard, while the title track goes pop-punk, with hints of the Undertones.
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But there’s very much a serious side to the album, which tackles real everyday issues, and while the focus is very much on life in America, the politics and human sentiments are universal: ‘A Lullabye of Sorts’ swipes at consumerism and the ubiquity of guns, and love, loneliness and struggle are all focal issues. Delivered with sincerity and guts, it’s a solid and authentic work.
Two Cow Garage Online
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