The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang

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The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang

CD Reviews

The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang

They ascended from the quicksand of underground music with The ’59 Sound in 2008. It wasn’t their sound that brought them up, but the songs—every track was solid. On tour, they began selling out club shows and planted their flags at super-fests like Glastonbury and Bonnaroo. Though the album didn’t produce a proper hit, it propelled them from an opening act to a major American rock act.
Then they did it again.
American Slang is solid start to finish. Not a flop in the bunch. It’s not great though. For an album to be great, it must break ground. This walks beaten paths—albeit well, even swaggers, but it doesn’t adventure, it doesn’t explore. It basically sounds like Against Me! performing unreleased Van Morrison songs—yes the songs are that good, but I wish they weren’t. It’d give me a reason to hate this band. They’re approach is so conventional, it’s basically Dad-Rock—a sub-genre defined by it’s lack of edginess.
This band has no shame and that’s surely one source of their power. They carry on, heart on sleeve, apparently without embarrassment. This was exemplified on the last record when they openly used lines from the Counting Crows for the chorus of their songs “High” and “Lonesome Sound.” Lead singer Brian Fallon admitted to being a fan of the band—something few self-respecting men would admit. The same ideal is apparent on American Slang; they clearly don’t care that their topics are redundant or that the big choruses reek of radio rock familiarity.
It’s not just despite those things that they succeed, it’s also because of them. Somehow, within the clichés, Fallon finds the spirit and emotion of American life and makes you feel it too. Questionable methods? Yes, but the results are undeniable.

- Kevin Madness

Last modified on Tuesday, 15 February 2011 02:28

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