The singer-songwriter sound might be a long-established and equally well-defined one, but Northeastern, the new one from Old Tom & The Lookouts reminds us that innovation doesn’t always mean tearing down walls or storming the barricades. Sometimes, it’s about polishing what’s already there until it sparkles with fresh allure. The genre sounds the way it does for good reason, and any attempt to push the form too far from the source risks leaving its essence behind. But Tom and the gang don’t stray; instead, they dive deeper, finding the fresh in the familiar.
In fact, all they do is merge the singer-songwriter style with the full-band sound, broadening and emboldening the core sonics. It sounds simple, obvious, and sure, it’s been done before, but they have one thing that many who have gone before didn’t: they have the songs. Boy, do they have the songs.
“Your Town” is about as great a slice of Americana as you could hope to find doing the rounds today. Country vibes meet folky licks, indie sonics, and gentle rock energy brought to bear whenever he decides to put his foot on the pedal.
We are treated to lush, cinematic, folky waltzes with “Damnation,” raucous country-rock on “Side Door,” where main man Alex Calabrese duets brilliantly with Madeline Finn, understated and spacious love songs with “Teeth,” and the fast and furious rootsy grooves of “Papers.”
This isn’t the sound of the wheel being reinvented; this is the sound of a new set of slicks being tested. Expect the sonic equivalent of engines being revved, rubber tire marks being left on the road, and the smell of hot metal and oil hanging in the air as Old Tom & The Lookouts race off into the sonic landscape and head over the next hill into a bright new future.
Website
Facebook
Spotify
Soundcloud
Bandcamp
