OR   Search for Artist/Title    Advanced Search
 
you are not logged in...  [login] 
All Reviews    Edit This Review     
Review: 'Gumshoe'
'The Governor's Brother'   


-  Genre: 'Indie' -  Release Date: '12.12.18.'

Our Rating:
As soon as I got this CD I assumed it was going to be all crime noir with a big Dashiell Hammet and Jim Thompson influenced which sadly it isn't quite. The question is does it live up to expectation of a great album title and band name almost.

Well the opener Barkin At Shadows is pulpy lyrically but is far more downbeat folksy than full on noir as the guy has some trouble with the Robutussin he's been necking like it's a cocktail. All the time wondering what she's doing with her Larcenous Heart.
Call Me Mr Rubber Belly is a slow blues hustle that isn't as kinky as the song title suggests, but it does get reasonably dark and has inherited that dark louche feel that Porter Waggoner has on Rubber Room.

Amorosa is a slight love song that feels like a Badly Drawn Boy song it's quite sparse while he ends up left out in the cold again. I was hoping for a darker twist to this song.
I Am The Sun has a cool brass led soul feel to the music with the indie spoke sung vocals slightly at odds with the music as the songs tale unfolds. This really feels like it needs some full-on begging pleading vocals to go with the great music.

Bye Bye Baby is another slight shuffle of an almost lament for a lost love, who hasn't been murdered or buried or anything you might have expected in a Gumshoe pulp novel, true detective set to music this isn't, but it does have some very cool guitar playing and is thankfully noting like the Bay City rollers hit.

C.L.A.U.S. has a bit of a crazy horse feel to it as the lyrical ghost story unfolds and as far as I can tell it has nothing to do with Christmas. You will have to try hard to figure out the acronym of the songs title as it unfolds and we figure out what's true and what happened at the grocery store, but at least we know he doesn't wear gloves so would have left his fingerprints behind.

The album closes with Never Enough that feels like a slow lament for the punishment that is being talked about for the broken down man at the songs heart, will he end up dancing on air or suffer an even worse fate while wondering where are you know it has a bit of a final scene of a spaghetti western feel to it more than a Gumshoe story.

Having heard this album both on my normal stereo with the great sound and on my new computer with frankly shocking sound that's waiting to be modified I have to say in some ways this album sounds better in low-fi than it does in Hi-fi which it obviously shouldn't or has it been mixed for cheap ear bud listening.

Either way find out more at https://www.facebook.com/gumshoetunes/
  author: simonovitch

[Show all reviews for this Artist]

READERS COMMENTS    10 comments still available (max 10)    [Click here to add your own comments]

There are currently no comments...
----------