Buffalo Tom - Quiet And Peace

  by Adrian Janes

published: 15 / 4 / 2018

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Having been prominent in so-called alternative rock circles in the 1980s and 1990s, the career of Buffalo Tom seems to have largely taken on the semi-retired character suggested by the title of this latest album, their first since ‘Skins’ in 2011. But if they are something like elder statesmen now, they show on this record that they can still tap into a youthful energy, while at the same time reflecting lyrically from the somewhat wistful perspective of mature men. The sense of passing time is present from the first track, ‘All Be Gone’. “Seems like I was just a kid not so long ago”, rasps the lived-in voice of Bill Janovitz, against a backdrop of sharp guitar and pacey drums, this sound almost a nostalgic creation in itself, as apart from the soaring Hammond organ it evokes a less feverish Hüsker Dü. The punningly-titled ‘Overtime’ is more restrained, based around some attractive guitar work and tapping deeper into the past of American rock: here, as occasionally elsewhere, Janovitz’s husky voice suggests Bob Seger rather than Mould, and the track overall has echoes of the Band. The feeling of looking back that underlies the album is summed up in the line “Overtime is the loneliest time”, as if the narrator has stayed too long in his own story. ‘Roman Cars’ is one of three tracks, along with ‘Cat V Mouse’ and ‘Hemlock’, on which bassist Chris Colbourn sings. His smoother, higher register gives his compositions something of a Tom Pettyish feel, rock but with more of a pop sensibility than Janovitz’s efforts. While the first two reflect appealingly on love and memories of it, ‘Hemlock’ is the most satisfying. Even while it places its protagonists in the 1980s (“’Ocean Rain’ in our ears/We won’t be seventeen long”), its stately pace, male/female harmonies and “How the hemlock grows” refrain manage to suggest something even deeper-rooted, country or even a traditional folk air. (Incidentally, the title is probably not as sinister as it appears – in America there is a tree known as the hemlock, whose leaves resemble that of the poisonous plant.) The piano and acoustic guitar blend of ‘Freckles’ at first evokes Midlake. The song suggests a relationship of longstanding, looking to a past together but also anxious about the present (“Are you wishing/To be free of now?”). The addition of heavier guitar and organ build the urgency, towards the concluding desperate plea of “Will you wait for me?” ‘Lonely Fast & Deep’ and ‘In the Ice’ are born of inner conflict, both pushing away love and aching for it. The former doesn’t disguise the contradiction; at one point Janovitz claims “Now I’m used to solitude/Now I need me more than you”, at another, “Now I need you more than sleep”. The impassioned vocals of the latter again deny what the surface of the words seems to say: “I need quiet and peace/Or I’ll never break free of the ice”: rather than cold, Janovitz’s voice is that of a cauldron coming to the boil. Despite its position near the end, ‘Least That We Can Do’, propelled by a descending strummed guitar and dynamic drumming, is further proof that Buffalo Tom’s younger selves are still available to give a defiant finger to age (“Leaves fall around us/We come kicking through”). At the same time they’re both old and wise enough to know that it’s inevitable. It’s suggested in the subtle disquiet provided by wan synth notes, and even more by ‘Slow Down’, the album’s last original song. To some extent, this seems to be a slightly platitudinous comfort song, presumably aimed in the main at the audience that has aged along with them. Do they really need the sentimental advice of “Slow down…We’re right here…Hold on to yourself”? Yet as the song grows more rousing towards the fade, you can picture this going down well at the end of a live set in spite of your most cherished hardcore beliefs. Perhaps as the most explicit acknowledgment of the band’s influences and the album’s nostalgic cast, it ends with a cover version of a Simon and Garfunkel classic, ‘The Only Living Boy in New York’. Perhaps too there’s a sense of passing on the torch, as Janovitz harmonises with his daughter Lucy. It’s a perfectly respectable, respectful version, but unless for something like these reasons it’s hard to see what is added by its inclusion. This is a collection of good songs, stirring and touching by turns. If there isn’t anything sonically astonishing, it still has more bite than its title might lead you to expect, and although the product of a band settling into midlife, one still alert to the signs of crisis.

Track Listing:-

1 All Be Gone
2 Overtime
3 Roman Cars
4 Freckles
5 CatVMouse
6 Lonely Fast and Deep
7 See High the Hemlock Grows
8 In the Ice
9 Least That We Can Do
10 Slow Down
11 The Only Living Boy in New York
12 The Seeker
13 Saturday
14 Little Sister (Why So Tired)

Band Links:-

https://en-gb.facebook.com/buffalotomband/
http://buffalotom.com/
https://twitter.com/buffalotomband
https://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialBuffaloTom
https://plus.google.com/u/0/114808545862786459226
https://www.instagram.com/buffalotomband/

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