I promised I'd talk about that new album by Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, so here we go, two years
later — just in time for The Lion The Beast The Beat.
The earlier album caught my attention
by virtue of the press surrounding it. I figured any band that could
snag the attention “it” producer T Bone Burnett, only to turn around and show him the door, was a band worth listening to. I enjoyed
what I received — a kick-ass sound somewhat reminiscent of late
Lone Justice or early BoDeans. College radio, in other words, from
when I was in college.
I gave that disc a fair bit of play, but
it did not become the centrepiece for that summer. The Lion The Beast
The Beat, on the other hand, has an early lock on that position.
Potter still delivers her banshee wail (again, Maria McKee comes to
mind) and the Nocturnals hold to that same tight groove that holds the blues-rock-country sound together. But
there is also an entirely unexpected wild, poppy geist from left
field that blows over the new collection — it can sound a bit like
when Sinead O'Connor was still riding the magic; at another point it sounds like we've staggered into a steampunk version of Moulin Rouge (“Loneliest Soul”). The sustained experiment
succeeds, bringing verve and snap to the familiar, and producing that
rarest and most delightful of sounds: something new.
The Lion The Beast The Beat is going to
get a lot of airplay in this house. Grace Potter & The Nocturnals' home is here.
2 comments:
Hey Darrell,
A friend caught Ms. Potter & Band when she rolled through town recently. Thought you'd appreciate the pictures @ http://www.studiomlive.com/artists/gracepotter0612/.
It's all about the hair...as if it were a separate creature.
The hair and the kicks. I was wondering if she didn't plant some magnets in the soles of those suckers to keep her upright. Seeing her ditch them before picking up the "Flying V" was actually a relief!
Thanks for the link. Super pictures.
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