There’s a considerable amount of emotional investment in ‘What the Toll Tells’. Taking the bare bones of the dynamic duo, Two Gallants haphazardly three possess the same crazed zeal as an unplugged country tinged DFA 1979 whilst crash landing between the blues rock roots of The Black Keys and the country tinged domain of Americana. Whilst this would usually instil a morbid fear with an overbearing anxiety of stumbling upon ‘alt country’, ‘What the Toll Tells’ will reward any curiosity and bravery with some brutally forlorn blues reflection.
It’s an album that scores high on dark melancholic drama and despite what looks like a relatively lightweight nine songs there are some inescapably wistful monsters lurking in the track listing. With four songs clocking in at the eight minute mark and more, ’What the Toll Tells’ is prone to more than its fair share of meandering country sentiment. Obviously the subject matter has never successfully been compressed into some sleek three minute number, if it had we could have waved goodbye to a couple of genres as well as a generation of shrinks, but without sharing similar intentions or a bottle of bourbon (with yourself) the meaning doesn’t tend to strike a chord.
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It’s on tracks like ‘Long Summer Day’ that Tyson Vogel’s stammering lo fi drumming and Stephen’s vocals rasp and rant to wonderfully aggressive tumbledown effect. Previous single ‘Las cruces jail’ is an unbridled, angry, passionate yet wildly articulate stamping blues rock assault that sees Adam Stephens’s vocals raw and hawk with a vivid intensity somewhere between Kings of Leons Caleb Followill, if he ever learnt to project his voice, and Dylan’s musing conversation. Both tracks come in on the not so sprightly 5 minute mark and compared to the rest of the albums marathon tracks these are a walk in the park. Within these long winded numbers, Two Gallants shift gear continuously and you get your reward for sticking with. Drawing on customary tales of hardship; love, money, relationships etc. if you have the piece of the mind or patience to stick with it ‘What the Tells Tolls’ has all the hallmarks of a perfect situation album.
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