As buzzwords such as alt-country and Americana have become the cool byline for those trying to outrun the past; terms such as roots and country and western have fallen out of fashion. So it was great to have the latter as a reference point and tag in Matt Basile’s bio. For In the House of the Lord is exactly that, among other things, an album that tips its hat to such traditions but which has effortlessly moved with the times too. We may have gone so far down that road of rebranding such music to keep up with the fashionable label that we find ourselves back where it all began.
In the House of the Lord is a wonderful album, one woven of sublime steel pedal and acoustic guitars (the sort of storytelling that made Springsteen’s Nebraska and Ryan Adams Heartbreaker such iconic moments in music history) and Basile’s gorgeous baritone delivery, is the undeniable icing on the cake.
A church organ gently ushers in the opening, title track, building into a blend of beats and beatific sonics, a tale of small-town community and acceptance. “The More I Love” almost feels like a long-lost Johnny Cash number, and that isn’t a reference that I break out lightly, as does “Drifting Too Far From the Shore” in all its faith and twang and cracked vocal brilliance.
For me, its finest moment is also its most delicate; “Ballad of a Pretty Girl” is an understated blend of country acoustica and early rock-and-roll surf-infused twang that seems to be built as much from sentiment and feeling, nostalgia and wistful memory, as from the drifting sonics that blow through it.
Forget all the songs about lonesome cowboys driving off into the sunset, or having one more drink, or having lost his love, his dog, or his pickup truck, and other such cliches. And forget those nationalist anthems about America that seem to be all the rage…rage seeming to be the optimum word). Instead, listen to an album about being American as viewed through all its small, humble, everyday minutiae. Never has humility felt so loud!
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