Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: Howl

By Martin Halo

I ended up running into this record about a week ago, shrouded in black and eyeing me down with a glimmer of seduction. I picked her up and began to acquaint myself with her sleeve and my anticipation began reeling. Entitled Howl, the blues obviously a prevalent component was staring me in the face. Her track listings divided slickly into two sides of album intended validity. Like a giddy school boy she commanded my full attention, and by the time I got her home we wasted no time in finding out what we both were all about.

Did she live up to the hype y’all might ask? I kept her panties in the morning.The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club junior release Howl is a refreshing mix of vintage country driven blues. Peter Hayes’s vocals ring reminiscent of a Plastic Ono Band Lennon and rhythmic experimentations indulge in a Dylan inspired “Still Suspicion Holds you Tight.” The melodic vocals sound like a mucky Stone Roses recording. The open tuning slide work of “Ain’t No Easy Way” is easily the strongest track on the record, and acoustic based tracks of “Fault Line,” “Restless Sinner,” and “Promise” incorporated rhythms easily left over from the later half of the Physical Graffiti sessions. The real pleasure of the recording is the consistency of its production. Flow, tempo, texture, and key changes are so perfectly blended that the record truly is a 49 minute artistic statement rather just a collection of 3 minute gems.