Ryan's Elliott Brood Review

Before jumping into this week's review, I need to make a confession: I am not, generally speaking, a fan of country music. There are a few artists working in the genre that I can appreciate, primarily on the bluegrass side of things, but for the most part it's just not my preference. So, as all the prior knowledge I had of Elliott Brood's Mountain Meadows was that it's a country album, I was a little hesitant to give it a listen. What I ended up finding, though, were a couple of things that surprised me about the album.

What I really wasn't expecting was how much this album would remind me of a punk album. I first got that feeling listening to Brood's raspy singingg voice, which at times reminded me of Tim Armstrong or The Distillers' Brody Dalle. The more I thought about it, though, the deeper that connection became; you've got an album driven by energetic, fast-paced guitar rhythms, relatively simple-sounding chord progressions, and an independent, DYI attitude. True, it's completely devoid of any of the outward trappings and cultural detritus usually associated with punk music, but the heart of it is the same.

Another enjoyable surprise while listening to this album was how much capital-F Fun it is to listen to. It's a rhythmic, melodious album, and there were a few times that I caught myself tapping my feet along to the beat, especially on tracks like 'Write It All Down For You' and 'Chuckwagon'. When evaluating an album, people usually try to think about more serious concerns than that, but it's an important consideration to keep in mind.

Now, while I did enjoy those elements of the disc, Mountain Meadows is far from a perfect album. There's not a lot of variety from song to song, and as a result they tend to muddle together. Some might say that that's further evidence of the punk influences on the album, but nevertheless I think that it's a mark against the album. There's also nothing really profound about the lyrics found throughout it; again, they're fun enough, but on the whole there wasn't anything there that I found particularly remarkable. On the whole, I'd have to say that sums up my overall feeling about the album - while it's pleasantly surprising at times, and fun to listen to, it doesn't stick with you the way a great album should.