Although your reviewer is personally more familiar with the colour he brings to the Pernice Brothers records, it seems there's an awful lot more to six-string wizard Peyton Pinkerton: not least his 'other' band, the really rather formidable NEW RADIANT STORM KING, who with "The Steady Hand" - their first album in five years - are on a winner in a big way.
For the uninitiated, New Radiant Storm King comprise Pinkerton (guitars), Matt Hunter (vocals/ guitar), Caleb Wetmore (bass/ backing vocals) and drummer Patrick Berkery. They are based in Northampton, MA, and recorded "The Steady Hand" at Slaughterhouse studio in well-known college-rock town Amherst, MA with long-time prducer Mark Alan Miller at the controls. Its' reputation as their first 100% hi-fi recording precedes it, but whatever the deal is with that it's certainly a consistent and engaging listen with the 'steady hand' of the title clearly holding on to the quality control tiller at virtually all times.
"Overture" is initially dreamy and pretty, though after 50 seconds it blasts into crystalline, shoegaze mode. It's short and scene-setting and not for the last time brings the band's Anglophile influences (think Ride, Swervedriver etc) bubbling to the surface. However, the ensuing "Winding Staircase" - purposeful and proud guitars and a swaggering clarity with the rhythm section - proves this will be no mere FX-fest and indeed before long "The Steady Hand" is proving itself to be a cut-above Eastern seaboard indie record thanks to a slew of excellent tracks.
Indeed, there's no denying the appeal of songs like the chugging angularity of "Accountant of The Year" (think Mark Kozelek fronting Stellastarr* if you will), the windmilling chords and honeyed harmonies of "Scuttled" and the strident, economic bluster of "Anthymn." Yet, if anything, even these fine tunes are usurped by the dramatic suicide scenario of "From A Roof" ("footprints in the snow lead to the ledge/ and down to the cold Chicago concrete") and the swerving, riffsmart excitement of "Come On & Let Yourself Win."
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None of which is to say that NRSK are any less adept when they take it down a gear or two either. Indeed, songs like "View Of A Wedding Pt.2" with its' semi-acoustic feel and pleasing chromatic twists and the gentle, comtemplative "Yardsale Legacy" are among the very best things here. Hunter's lyrics on the latter ("a lifetime packed away/ a yardsale legacy/ photographs from times long gone") are especially well-observed and memorable, while NRSK pull all the stops out for the epic, closing "Sunset Provisions" where dreampop, MBV-style shoegazing and the under-rated likes of Ambulance Ltd all spring to mind during the controlled ebb and swell of this extremely well-executed, 7-minute and not-a-second-too-long mood piece.
"The Steady Hand", then, is an excellent, fiery and emotional indie rock record which provides both a great point of entry for Pernice Brothers fans keen to hear what Peyton Pinkerton gets up to when he's not embroidering Joe's great songs and an opportunity to start delving into one of America's best long-term alt.rock proponents' back catalogues.
Clearly a five-year wilderness break spent more wisely than the one The Stone Roses indulged in then.
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