Buck- Fifty Boys – self-titled
I stumbled across this Minneapolis band when they opened for Gillian Welch at Schubas in Chicago a year ago. At the time they struck me as a reticent version of the Pogues, with an Americana heart supplied by Eric Christophers Telecaster and fiddle fills. I wasnt wowed, but after listening to their six-song cassette on I-55 heading south, I kept replaying two of lead singer/guitarist Seth Hogans songs: Indianola, a wry slice of gas station realism, and Finer Spirits, a celebration of a relentless hook. They made the miles disappear; good as anything from this American-music-formerly-known-by-20-names that Id heard all year.
Nothing on the bands full-length debut quite snags the soul in the same way. But many come close, and the effort coheres as a series of short, amped-up vig_nettes. The first song, The Seven, The Six Or The Nine, is a stunner, impossible (in the best way) to define or describe. It effectively creates the feel of being on the lam and finding rest in a fateful place, a hotel where red velvet was fading into Caledonia purple walls. The songs characters (pursued or pursuers?) look like a pair of demons in the room down the crooked hall. The rhythm section keeps a furious pace, and Christophers fiddle rides clear, concise chords, mixed beautifully above the guitars.
Hogans voice is creepy. He insinuates, rails and whispers, as though knowing more than hell reveal. He writes from private mysteries, rather than anything a listener might recognize after waking and leaving dreams behind. That dream language works when the melodies work, as on Esmerelda, Carmen Miranda and Gone Tomorrow; elsewhere, the impressions get a bit lost amidst the guitars flickering and flaming across the stereo channels.
But every song is engaging, like friendly strangers who extend a hand, though you cant tell if in kindness or malice. Its those risky, dense images, Hogans steely, full-of-character of voice, and of course, the gorgeous, warm guitars flowing everywhere that make this CD more intriguing than your run-of-the-roots rockout.