Guitar music is dead. Indie has run its course. Rock and roll is a spent force. Analog forms are out. Digital is king. Or so you might think if you listen to what influencer-infused, blog-blah-blah-blah, opinion-for-attention scribblings pass for music press these days. (Not this site, other, lesser publications, naturally.)
Well, I can happily confirm that guitar music is very much alive and kicking, and *The Casbahs*are at the forefront of that grassroots surge. It is their blend of contemporary music-making and traditional forms that really cuts through; there is something very fresh about the band, yet something wonderfully familiar, songs for the moment capturing the essence of all those great guitar slingers from the 80’s onwards. New music for old sonic souls, perhaps.
If the crunching, martial, staccato riff of opener “Crossfire” doesn’t sound like everything that was so great about indie-rock, then I don’t know what does. One helluva way to kick things off, a great way to set out their sonic stall, and the perfect way to have your faith restored in the power of guitar music. “Electric Daydreams” heads into slightly psychedelic territory but never loses the band’s clear-cut, clean-limbed sonic chops.
“Northern Skies” is wonderfully nostalgic, a hometown reverie bathing in layers of shimmering sounds and chiming six-strings, laid back, at least in comparison to much of the rest of the album, yet also groovily upbeat, “Ghosts in the Dust” is punchy and poignant and “Leaves” shows that as well as the anthemic, they can do understated, this song being a superb slow-burning evolution from the latter to the former.
The Casbahs is everything you have been waiting for. They are big and clever, they are resoundingly British, and they own whichever part of the musical landscape they set foot in, be it rock-driven, indie-infused, rootsy and understated, or pop-aware. More than that, their songwriting chops are second to none. How do I know? I have just listened to Peasants Of The Show, that’s how!
Guitar music is dead? Yeah, right!
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