Crooked Fingers
Breaks in the Armor
Merge
2011
Rating: 7.5 horse hearses out of 10
Eric Bachmann, the main force behind Crooked Fingers, reunited his old band the Archers of Loaf (aka my favorite band of all time) and played a few shows...I got to see them three times, and it was some of the best shows I had ever seen them play. What does this have to do with the new Crooked Fingers record? I'm not entirely sure, but I think the recent reappearance of AoL had me hoping that the Crooked Fingers sound might shift, at least slightly, back towards Bachmann's early sound. Which is a silly thing to hope for honestly, as I love everything Crooked Fingers have released nearly as much as the Archers, and this newest record continues his outstanding tradition of well-written, unique folk songs. His voice does seem less "Neil Diamond" these days and much closer to his Archers voice, and the use of a sampler in the track "Went to the City" reminds me of one of my all time favorite AoL songs "Form and File", but that's about all the parallels you could draw to his former act.
Man this review is a rambling mess. I often have that problem with music and bands I really love and have listened to for, well, over a decade now. Just know this - if you've liked Bachmann's previous work as Crooked Fingers, you definitely won't be disappointed here - it's one of his stronger albums under that moniker. If you've never heard him before, grab the first one, the self-titled one, but this would be a fine choice as well.
In whatever form he's willing to give himself to us, I'm a happy listener.
No comments:
Post a Comment