One of the beauties of writing is showcasing a light on undiscovered talent. With the media so splintered these days it's maddening trying to find great new music, even though there is no shortage of it out there. One band I continually recommend is the Gaslight Anthem. They embody everything one could want from music; grittiness, melody, believability and redemption. Taking a page from the past the music may feel derivative but it is wildly engaging and when you have finished listening to one of their records, you feel as if your soul has been cleansed through the power of a getaway chorus. The '59 Sound was one of my Top-100 albums of the decade and if I were writing the list today, it would appear significantly higher than its original placement of #99.
I wrote about the band in April 2009 when they hit Chicago and said:
Inside the Bottom Lounge, Chicago’s newest live venue for music, the crowd is thrusting their perspiring bodies against one another like impassioned lovers who need each others bodies for more than just a sexual release but for internal redemption. The moshing is forceful, verging on furious, as the seven-hundred in attendance throw caution to the wind amidst songs of anticipation and liberation sound tracked by the Gaslight Anthem. “The ’59 Sound”, the title track to their most recent album, is eliciting screams of adoration and a physical churning I haven’t seen since alternative’s hey day in the early 90’s. Some have viewed the Gaslight Anthem as a band whose music is too workmanlike and they borrows too liberally from their influences,, but I dare you to witness the fist pumping and maniacal reactions from the sold-out crowd and not want to fall in love with rock n’ roll all over again.
Read the full review here.
The band releases their latest album, American Slang today. This is music your life is better off for hearing. Delving into your psyche, Brian Fallon's lyrics are bone-cutting yet brutally beautiful and truthful. They remind you of summer love, lost innocence and like a prayer to a spirit above, they comfort you in ways nothing else can. The only question you should be asking yourself is how you have lived life this far without their music.
Go to their official site for streams, live performances and a multi-episode piece on the making of the latest record.
