Houston Brothers – Self-Titled
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Posted On September 1, 2003
The Houston Brothers, it should be clarified, are not from that fair Texas burg, but from Charlotte, North Carolina. Their surname? Thats not Houston either. Its Faircloth. The bands music? Dead-on Houston, or anywhere where theres plenty of room to roam. Ostensibly a mix of steel, hazy pedal-driven guitar and brushed drums, its driving music, in either interpretation of the word.
The opener, the straightforward yet self-deprecating Lovin You Is Such A Drag, is the sound of a band sure of its idiom, if not itself. In a little over four minutes, it references learning to shag, being over the hill at 28, flying the rebel flag, and cocaine. Roll In The Dunes is so delicately rendered that one can almost smell the sea and see the shimmering reflection of the water, a nice mirror to Justin Faircloths own wavering, emotive narration (and, ultimately, explication) of a love in progress.
Were there a radio station that would play their music, This Afternoon would be the likely lead single. Not for all the grass Oregon, they sing, And not for all the yen in Japan/Would I turn and walk away/I just want to be your man. As the song ends, Justin and Matt lazily harmonize the denouement: You could have stood your ground and told me that I really had to go/But you said yes when you could have said no. As love songs go, its a head-slap of an honest lament, sung not only to a lover but probably also to the self.
