Albums

Album Review: The Gaslight Anthem

[Album: The ‘59 Sound]
[Label: Side One Dummy]

Every now and then a record comes along that does something to me on an emotional level that I find really hard to articulate. The music and words communicate with me in my sleep, when I wake and all through the day. It will leave me feeling both completely numb and totally alive at the same time. The kind of record that can lead me to picking up my phone, calling home and thanking my mother for bringing me into this world. Put simply a record that once you have heard it becomes a part of your very fabric and you just cannot live without it. ‘The ’59 Sound’ is one of those records.

The Gaslight Anthem planted the seeds for this stunning effort with debut album ‘Sink or Swim’ a record that suggested that something very special was unfolding across the Atlantic. The mixture of soul-tinged punk-rock was a remarkable triumph of honest yet edgy song writing that saw the band catapulted from “new kids on the block” to “the ones to watch” almost overnight. European dates and a Vans Warped tour followed their next release, the four-track EP ‘Senor and the Queen’, that showcased the softer side of Brian Fallon’s talent for storytelling. At this moment in time, and coinciding with the release of ‘The ’59 Sound’, they have become the first band in rock magazine Kerrang’s history to grace the front cover without previously ever having been mentioned in the publication. It has been a meteoric rise to fame for these four New Jersey residents and things are only going to get crazier…..

Brian Fallon (the lead singer and lyricist for TGA) is a man that much like Springsteen has a talent for taking the listener away on waves of beautifully-weaved and romantically nostalgic rhetoric and is the key to this band’s appeal. A song-writer of towering genius, his lyrics conjure up incredible visions and, song to song, you can find yourself driving down American freeways in classic cars, drinking coffee in roadside diners or whispering sweet nothings into the ears of young girls. The stories within the songs are tales of love and regret, death and hope and the slow realization that we are mortal after all. Incredibly poetic in style, it is hard to pick-out the best ones but two of my favourites are from ‘Patient Ferris Wheel’ (”Not tonight, not tonight / Honey I am on fire / I can’t feel a single thing but the weight of the wires / Cracking electric line / Remember baby we were a stone / And we would sleep where we’ve fallin’ [sic]“) and the chorus (”I’ve never felt so strange / Standing in the Jersey rain / Thinking about what an old man said / Maybe I should call me an ambulance / I’ve never felt so strange / Standing in the pounding rain / Thinking about what my mother once said / Maybe I should call me an ambulance“). In ‘Casanova Baby’ we find him at his most poignant and most Springsteen-esque with the lines (”We could run all night / And dance upon the architecture / Come and take my hand / I’ll do the very best I can / Boy, I still wanna be your man / I’m still these nervous feet and heart of stone / Forget this dead mans town / I’ll take you home“). It’s nothing short of breathtaking.

Musically, the band produce an amazing atmospheric sound that tips it’s hat to Hot Water Music, Against Me and of course The Boss himself, Springsteen (hints of The Cure can even be heard in many songs). The Gaslight Anthem are no mere copy-cats however and the soul and conviction in the musical soundscape they create is purely there own. There is some fantastic guitarwork on display here with superb melodies and dynamics the order of the day, all backed up with a great bass-driven rhythm section. It is an album that rocks with intelligence, shines with soul and shimmers with intensity. A slight departure from the more distorted sound of ‘Sink or Swim’ for sure, but the band should be applauded for having the balls to challenge both themselves and their listeners.

This all combines to leave us with a set of songs so desperate in their urgency to be heard you almost feel the very life of Fallon and his band depend on it. They have created an inspired and stunning sophomore effort that should become part of the staple listening diet of any fan of great music for years to come. It has been a very long-time since I was excited by a band this much and ‘The ’59 Sound’ is the album of 2008 so far. The Gaslight Anthem’s flame burns ever brighter.

For Fans Of: Bruce Springsteen, Hot Water Music, Against Me!

Band Link:
The Gaslight Anthem

Shop:
Amazon UK | Amazon US

HMV

Bookmark to:

Previous & Next