Feeling like it adheres to everything that classic rock does so well, but filtered through a more alt-rock lens, Little White Hair is an excellent snapshot of where the genre is today. It is an album that neither panders to the past nor rushes into an unknown, yet unwritten future. It is, in short, an album for the moment. Right here. Right now!
And if “Over the Line” kicks things off with the requisite punch and groove, wailing, low-slung guitars firing off squalling salvos and raucous riffs, “Third Time Today” shows us that mudd•shovel are just as deft at writing songs with more space and restraint – still running on a killer guitar line but reminding us that weilding volume and velocity aren’t the only ways to make music rock, or indeed, roll.
“Pity Party” and “Don’t Drink the Water” certainly tip their hats to the traditions of classic rock (and why the hell not?), but the title track has more of a sassy blues-soul vibe, albeit one that is slowly being consumed by squalling, almost industrial guitars and “Cupid Sparrow” is the best, grooviest, most instantly infectious, alt-rock-dance track you have heard. Simple as that.
So, while mudd•shovel, perhaps named after the Staind song, revels in a fine line of alt-rockery, maybe it is one of those rare times when the “alt” does a lot of the heavy lifting. Unlike most alternative rock today, which has settled into a recognizable form and format, ironically, the mainstream sound of the modern rock world, here is a band still trying, and certainly succeeding, to push those boundaries.
Let’s hear it for the Cavan club! (I don’t think that there are enough geography jokes in music reviews these days.)
