Rock and Reprise.net |
Album Review |
EMMA JO & THE POETS DOWN HERE
Maybe not all the tracks on The Indigo Sessions are like Crowded, but only those in the best of shape could handle a full album of full-on, stomp your feet music like this. Need a defibrillator? Just slap headphones on, hit play and the heart start will start beating. Crank it up and the molecules move on their own. If they don't, give it up. You're dead. Crowded is not the only rocker on the album, to be sure. Two Bad Hearts is like getting beat up in a back alley, Kyle Scheel's drumming and Garrett Cox's bass pummeling you about the head and shoulders while Brett Cox's leads shred the eardrums. So Long is rockin' blues amped up, and Alive Tonite, more toward the mainstream, gets the heart pumping along the lines of, say, Boston's (if you haven't check them out, you should). And strangely enough, Cruel and Unusual is cruel and unusual, but in a good way. The rest is straight up good ol' rock & roll, perfect for the twelve ounce curl or the mojito hop. They even take in a breath or two here and there, slowing things down to Earth speed just to prove they are neither alien nor from bizarro world. There is something to be said about music for comparison's sake (don't get me started on sequencing, something ignored by people in this digital pick-your-music-on-a-song-by-song-basis world), so when I hear rock, shall we say, less-heavy (the bluesy You Are There) lead in to the blistering So Long and then the beat-heavy, just short of manic Crowded (the garbage can cymbal smashes at the end of each chorus are icing on the manic cake), I appreciate the versatility. The truth is, though, that they are at their best when rattling windows. Emma Jo hits her vocal stride when the beat is strong and the Poets machine gun the chords. One can only imagine what they are like when barreling down the rock highway on the same track, but it must be comparable to being steamrolled. When I first started listening to music, the accepted gifts a la Kansas City were blues and barbeque. If stay on track, they might very well make a few lists as well. Frank O. Gutch Jr.
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