Artist: The Wallflowers
Title: Exit Wounds
Genre: Soft Rock
Release Date: 9th July 2021
Label: New West Records
Album Review
Here are the facts. THE WALLFLOWERS are American. They are not a they, but a he. Except when touring, and then the he becomes a they. The he is multi-instrumentalist Jakob Dylan. I played the recorder and the flute at school - does that also make me a multi-instrumentalist? There have been albums, there has been critical acclaim, there has recently been a tour in support of Mr Eric Clapton no less. The song titles are very long. New album ‘Exit Wounds’ sounds at times like DIRE STRAITS, and this is proving to be a problem, as no matter how open minded one tries to be, it is difficult to be positive about anything that sounds like DIRE STRAITS. I will try. I am not only a multi-instrumentalist you see…
Things shuffle in with a nicely loose country feel on opening track ‘Long Title’, and it’s easy to see why ERIC CLAPTON came calling. It’s gentle but engaging, completely happy in its deeply unfashionable skin, and all the better for it. Sounds like SHERYL CROW doing backing vocals. Hate this, I dare you, and it’ll come and haunt you. ‘Roots And Wings’ breezes by pleasantly, and ‘Long Title’ that follows is a thumbs-in-belt-loops tale that wouldn’t shame a BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN album. The brakes are on with ‘Darlin’ Hold On’, a late-night lament that manages to roll-out every cliché in the book and yet sound remarkably un-cliched, and ‘Move The River’ tries a bit of everything to keep it buoyant but feels like what it really needs is a big chorus.
‘Very Long Song Title Indeed’ continues in the impossible to hate but not enough there to love category, and if you’re not quite sleepy by ‘Wrong End Of The Spear’, you will be by the end. But a nice kind of sleepy. That fuzzy, warm kind of sleepy that comes when you can’t quite decide if the troubles of the world are going to break through or not. And then you’re jolted from your reverie as Mark Knopfler (not really folks) seems to stomp into shot on ‘Longest Title So Far’, a rather horrible but mercifully short blast of Americana. And ‘The Daylight Between Us’ waves goodbye from a porch dappled in sunlight, a few lazy flies buzzing around, and a man with no teeth telling you it’s not gonna rain for 6 weeks. Or something.
‘Exit Wounds’ is certainly musically proficient, and it’s a difficult and grumpy soul that can’t admire the storytelling, laid-back charm and old-school twang of Jakob Dylan’s dusty, backwater world. To describe this as dated is rather like saying the pyramids are old fashioned - it exists in a place that will always welcome this inoffensive, mildly entertaining soft rock. It won’t change the world, but it won’t harm it either. And maybe that’s a good thing, after all the horror we see out there. Maybe we should all let a bit of ‘Extremely Long Song Title That Takes Forever To Write’ into our hearts, and go and join THE WALLFLOWERS for a lemonade or a warm beer on that sunset porch.
Tracklist
01. Maybe Your Heart’s Not In It No More
02. Roots And Wings
03. I Hear The Ocean When I Wanna Hear Trains
04. The Dive Bar In My Heart
05. Darlin’ Hold On
06. Move The River
07. I’ll Let You Down But Will Not Give You Up
08. Wrong End Of The Spear
09. Who’s That Man Walking Round My Garden
10. The Daylight Between Us
Line-up
Jakob Dylan
Website
https://www.wallflowersmusic.com / https://www.facebook.com/thewallflowersmusic
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 7
Sound: 7
Total: 7 / 10
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