Perhaps this is too topical of a comparison, but while listening to Westernaire, I couldn’t help but think of Sofia Coppola’s acclaimed film Lost In Translation. Both works do an expert job of capturing mood and setting. For Milton Mapes, that setting is not Tokyo, but the rugged and lonesome landscape of the American Southwest.
The Austin by way of Nashville by way of Dallas group plays emotionally-rich roots music with hints of Neil Young and 1980s indie rock. Their full, almost cinematic sound builds slowly and lingers long after the eleven tracks on Westernaire are over.
The first line of the album-opening “Great Unknown” draws you in: “I’m a brave young gun, got the world sittin’ on my thumb.” Singer-guitarist Greg Vanderpool, who wrote all the songs, has plenty more where that came from. “Last night I danced with a stranger, but she just reminded me that you were the one/Somebody else one time said it better, I think Dylan but it may have been Young,” he wryly offers on “Palo Duro”.
“The Only Sound That Matters” (recently included on a Starbucks compilation), the raggedly right “This Kind Of Danger”, and “A Thousands Songs About California”, an introspective ode to watching too many friends get the hell out of town, are standouts on this debut from a band full of promise.