Christened ‘the post punk Johnny Cash’ (er, wasn’t that Ed Hamell a couple years earlier?) by the dear old NME, Alabama’s DAN SARTAIN has nonetheless been living up to the tag with a series of emotional, bare-knuckled live performances supporting The Kooks earlier this year and earning plaudits from scenesters as diverse as Hot Snakes’ John Reis and Babyshambles’ bassist Drew McConnell.
Regardless of the validity of such comparisons, though, what is certain is that Sartain is an old skool singer/ songwriter of some repute, whose apparent talent far exceeds his tender 23 years of age. His previous album ‘Dan Sartain vs. The Serpientes’ was highly rated by the cognoscenti, and its’ erstwhile follow-up ‘Join Dan Sartain’ can only help to spread the gospel.
Recorded in Transatlantic sessions with John Reis in San Diego and Liam Watson at London’s Toe Rag studios (yes, as in The White Stripes, The Kills, Holly Golightly etc), ‘Join Dan Sartain”s production pedigree will no doubt conjure images of organic, 50s-style recording., all valve mics and analogue gear and to an extent that’s true. The fact the record was made primarily by Sartain (vocals/ guitars) and drummer Raj Parmely with guest spots by Reis (guitars, organ) and sax/ vibes/ trumpet also ensures a bass-less White Stripes scenario springs to mind.
But you know what thought did, and ultimately if you’re assuming ‘Join Dan Sartain’ is going to be another ‘Elephant’ or even a Two Gallants record, then forget it, because this sharp-suited figure has different fish to fry. In fairness, the ghost of Cash does flit through songs like ‘Hangers On’ and the rollicking train rhythms of ‘Drama Queens’, while tunes such as ‘Young Girls’ and ‘Gun Vs. Knife’ are stripped-down, Cramps-bothering rockabilly affairs that stare down death at every chord change.
|
However, while there’s a bloodthirsty gleam in his eye, Dan Sartain more often than not resembles suave, noir-ish singer/ songwriters like Chris Isaak and/ or Steve Wynn, not least when he tackles songs like ‘Totem Pole’ – with its’ rolling tom toms and John Barry baritone guitar bursts – and the marvellous ‘Flight Of The Finch’ which is steeped in Mariachi horns and the hot-blooded stench of the Mexican desert. He’s not entirely divorced from tenderness, either, as the sad, worldly-wise acoustic outing ‘The World’s Gonna Break Your Little Heart’ makes admirably clear.
Elsewhere, Sartain proves he likes his garage shaken and stung on tracks like the desire-fuelled ‘I Wanted It So’ and gets stripped-down and charismatic on ‘Shenanigans’, where Dan’s girl done wrong in a big way (“and now your pretty face don’t mean nothin’ to me”). He also forges a direct link to the ‘50s with a surprisingly adept cover of ‘Besame Me Mucho’: the cod-Mexican tune the Beatles famously included in their (failed) audition for Decca. Funnily enough, the one lukewarm moment is the closing, Shadows-style instrumental ‘Love Is Black’ where Sartain proves he has his Dick Dale licks down pat, but not much more.
Still, minor blemishes and all that. In the main, ‘Join Dan Sartain’ is a persuasive, neatly-attired album with an erudite line in murderous lyricism and Mexicali voodoo. Dan The Man shoots from the hip and scores every time, it seems.
|
