Wednesday , March 27 2024
Hailing from Nashville, by way of Cleveland, Ligion shows they’re “On The Way” to success with the release of "External Affairs."

Music Review: Ligion — External Affairs

Rock music is a mystery to me, these days. What I mean by that, I suppose, is that it is often hard to tell what labeling something as being “Rock” music means nowadays. Does that mean they sound like classic rock, hard rock, alternative rock, jam rock, etc., or has it become a generic label to put on something that isn’t anything else?

The new album by Nashville’s Ligion, thankfully, is wonderfully meandering in its own interpretation of what rock music can be, that it fits the word wonderfully, itself. Precise yet raw, based on solid rhythm work by drummer Johannes and bassist Levi, dual guitar attack by June and Seth, the band’s true talent lies in the three-part harmony that Seth and June achieve with Ligion’s lead singer, named, of course, Ligion.

Now, please bear in mind that I’m not trying to sell you the authentic London Bridge in thousands of small brick-sized packages, or the holy grail that is the next “Big Thing,”  — I just want you to check out what I think has the potential of being a damned good band, and their new album, External Affairs.

And that’s what Ligion has managed to deliver with External Affair.  Not an easy task in a world where a band or artist puts out an album that has 2-3 songs that will be downloaded like mad at .99 cents a pop on itunes, and about another 9 songs that are only vicariously connected to each other by means of having the same band as their parents.

Set off by the bright and poppy march of “On The Way,” External Affairs is off and running. Another winner is the nice guitar-driven sounds of “Lost My Car,” which bleeds into the soaring vocals of “Get Over Me.” “Weak” rolls along on a squalling guitar track that is nicely anchored by Ligion’s vocal power, as is also true of “The Other Side.” Actually, it’s kind of hard to just pick and choose which songs are the ones that catch my eye (or ear, as it were), simply because each of these songs do a very nice job of working off of each other, ultimately losing themselves just a little until you arrive at a point where you’re just talking about External Affairs instead of its components.

Simply put, if there’s any hope that I can ever scrounge my wandering thoughts into anything coherent tonight, Ligion has managed to create an album that I feel safe enough in telling people to give it — and them — a spot in their music collection.

External Affairs — Track-listing:

01. On The Way
02. Lost My Car
03. Get Over Me
04. Reach
05. Pins and Needles
06. Weak
07. Come On
08. For You
09. The Other Side
10. (Hey Hey) I Don’t Care
11. Carry Me

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