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Son Volt
The Search
Transmit Sound/Legacy[2006]

I’m sure that by now everyone has gotten themselves a copy of the new Arcade Fire album ‘Neon Bible’ and perhaps because that album has gotten so much ink I feel compelled to mention an album that will likely be overlooked – the new Son Volt album ‘The Search’ which came out the same day (March 6th).

‘The Search’ is (in my opinion) the strongest Son Volt album to date. The material swings from raucous rock ‘n roll to minimalistic piano-based songs, all set to the sometimes poignant – sometimes paranoid lyrics of Jay Farrar. Son Volt decided for whatever reason to release two versions of the album – one with a 14 song tracklist and then an extended version that contained 22 songs. Naturally, I had to get the one with all the tracks and while some of the songs sound the same (tends to happen when you put out 22 songs on one disc) there are a some songs from the extended version that shouldn’t be missed.

If you’re a skeptic give a few tracks a listen on the iTunes store or Amazon… here’s the ones that I highly recommend:

1. Slow Hearse: first song on the album – the first time I heard it I was blown away – such a downer but so beautiful.

2. The Search: this one falls under the category of ‘raucous’ – great intro, great song.

3. Adrenaline and Heresy: the best song on the album – another one that just blew me away at first listen.

4. Exurbia: this one is only on the extended version of the album – best song from the extended tracklist.

The Walkmen played a sold out show at Schuba’s on Sunday night and you better believe I had gotten my tickets way in advance. From what I heard the show sold out 2 months back, which shouldn’t be all that surprising since they packed The Metro (which I would estimate at 3 times the size of Schuba’s) not all that long ago.

The show sold out so quickly in fact that Schuba’s decided to schedule a 7pm and 10pm show, which sounded like a noble gesture until I found out that the opening act I was hoping to see (Ferraby Lionheart) would only be playing the 7pm show and that The Broken West would open the 10pm show. I knew nothing about The Broken West and I gather for good reason since their material was about as interesting and original as that of a band you might find playing a sports bar Sioux Falls, SD. With that I will move on to The Walkmen performance.

I’m guessing Hamilton Leithauser (lead singer) likes to hit the sauce before he takes the stage – which is all well and good when you play one show but when you take a 3 hour break and return for a second performance well… let’s just say he seemed pretty wooden. He made a few introductions between songs but I’ll be damned if I could understand one word coming out of his mouth. Fortunately, once a song began everything seemed to fall into place… minus perhaps a few guitar miscues on ‘Another One Goes By’.

The most pleasant (and surprising) element of the show was the number of new songs they rolled out. I was caught off guard because they’ve released two albums in the last year and have plenty of stuff to work with. Not only was the new stuff solid, but they also had two guys on horns who played on almost all the new material. If you’re a fan of ‘Louisana’ then you’ll most likely dig their new direction. I admire them for their willingness to venture into new territory. Some of the more memorable standards included ‘The Rat’, ‘Louisana’, ‘We’ve Been Had’, and the aforementioned ‘Another One Goes By’.