We're not talking a few measly overdubs here and there, either. The aptly named "Good Feeling" sounds like nothing else in the Soledad catalogue, a hook-filled power pop number that could almost be the work of a more muscular Big Star. "Loup Garou" is no less startling: an exercise in strident psychedelia, wreathed in vintage synth and Cream-y fuzz guitar. And then, of course, there's that sitar — which turns up on tranquil album closer "True to Zou Zou," and thankfully ends up sounding more in the vein of "Norwegian Wood" than "Listen to the Flower People." Frankly, new flavors like these are just the shot in the arm the Soledad Brothers need; the kind of thing that keeps an already well-established band exciting on record as well as onstage.
Best of all, The Hardest Walk feels more like a natural development than an arbitrary or forced change of pace. Sure, I'll be the first to admit that I was skeptical when I heard the Soledad Brothers were broadening their sound. Chalk it up to my purist tendencies, I guess, but I've always considered "rawness" to be an attribute worth cultivating; my favorite albums by any given artist tend to be the earliest, before experimentation or maturation creeps onto the scene. Somehow, though, the Soledad Brothers — perhaps the rawest of all Midwestern "garage" bands — have managed to cram in the experimentation without dulling their bite. And that's no mean feat. Now is there any way we could hear some shamisen on album number five?
Reviewed by Zach Hoskins
Article comments