Waving Their Freak Flag

This kick-ass, brain-warp of an album represents a return to form for Todd Snider, which suggests a personality crisis for the band. It’s as if the concept band has lost its concept — the Hard Working American has reverted to stoner slacker. As Snider sings, “It’s like every night is a Friday night
 and every day is a Friday night too.”

The HWA had originally found their frontman subsuming his identity into the band’s, singing songs written by kindred spirits and waving the flag of all-American, blue-collar populism. On Rest in Chaos (out May 13 on Melvin Records/Thirty Tigers), Snider’s larger-than-life personality and subversive humor have reasserted themselves, though the musicians have stepped up their game to match him, blow for blow. 

Both the anthemic “Opening Statement” and the closing “Purple Mountain Jamboree” sound like Springsteen dosed with psilocybin. In between, anything goes, as titles such as “Half Ass Moses,” “Dope Is Dope,” and “Throwing the Goats” attest. Most audacious is “Acid,” which clocks in at almost eight minutes, and finds guitarist Neil Casal leading the band into a psychedelic maelstrom, as if East Nashville had invaded Woodstock Nation and was letting its freak flag fly. The lone cover is Guy Clark’s low-key “The High Price of Inspiration,” which provides some counterweight to the chaos. 

Snider can be a little too clever for his own good, but his best borders on goofball genius. And the band kills throughout.