If you’re looking for a review that will point you towards a disc full of sunshine, balloons and smiles, you best move on to One Direction or your latest teen sensation du jour.
If, however, you want to pour yourself a whiskey and settle back and empathize with Blake Christiana’s world-weary lyrics and hear one of the tightest bands playing today then keep it here.
Brooklyn-based Yarn’s fourth disc (not counting a disc of ‘Leftovers’) is titled ‘Almost Home’. Released this past week it was partially funded by a Kickstarter project that brought in over $20,000 from fans that are seeing a band take it to the next level.
The album title, taken straight-forward, could be a reference to a hard-touring band wrapping up another string of dates and looking forward to a bit of time off. It could also refer to a band hitting on all cylinders right now and just about to break out.
This disc comes closest to capturing their blistering live shows and certainly is more electric than their previous releases. This alt-country band (yes, yes…alt-country from Brooklyn…get over it.) features Andrew Hendryx on amazing acoustic and electric mandolin, Rick Bugel on upright bass, Bobby Bonhomme on drums, Trevor MacArthur on acoustic and angelic harmonies, Rod Hohl on electric guitar and Blake on vocals and acoustic.
The opening track, ‘Dirt Road’ sets the tone both with Hohl’s guitar opening and the lyric “I went down to the dark side of town…looking for something to make my heart pound.” Certainly, this is a record of losers, drunks and whores to quote another song. (‘When The Summer Ends’).
The resignation theme that runs through Blake’s lyrics carries a hopeful tone, though, with the sing-along choruses and stellar playing from a first-rate band. Whether you’re raising that whiskey glass to sing “I’m just a lonely old man” (‘The Loner’) or “I’ve grown tired of holding down, tired of standing ground…yeah, grown tired of everything” (‘Tired of Everything’) you’ll be tapping your feet as much as nodding in agreement.
Here’s the 3-step program to join the fun:
Step 1: You can stream the disc here:
http://airplaydirect.com/music/yarnalmosthome/
Step 2: Buy it here:
Step 3: Check out a recent live show here:
http://archive.org/details/yarn2012-03-23.CA-14.flac24
Better yet, go see the next band to break it big live and raise that whiskey high.
