Dan Sartain - Dan Sartain Vs The Serpientes

  by Geraint Jones

published: 19 / 6 / 2006

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Review

According to his press release Dan Sartain was “born of fire and baptised in the tears of Johnny Cash”: a heady combination if ever there was one. But it’s no idle boast. The debut album from Dan Sartain, an Alabama born 23 year old multi instrumentalist, brims with a character that belies his meek age and that is shot through with an authenticity you simply can’t fake. There’s nothing particularly revolutionary about Sartain’s brand of lo-fi rock’n’roll. What prevents Sartain’s well trodden path from becoming staid is the sheer rawness of the recordings. There’s a very thin line between lo-fi’s rawness and muddy unlistenable recordings. A fact that hasn’t been lost on Sartain as the four tracks recorded in his garage sit well between the album’s ten studio out-takes. As he hollers his way through standout track 'Walk among the Cobras Pt I' you can almost taste the snake venom. The third part of the trilogy, “Cobras Pt III”, with its mock reggae chords sounds naggingly familiar, like a Jonathan Richman with a Deep South twang. The album’s most melancholic moment comes in the shape of 'A Place to Call My Home', with its brooding pump organ accompaniment taking a lead from Johnny Cash’s final album in the American recordings series. Instrumental track 'Love is Crimson' is one of the album’s few moments where things don’t quite work. The pacey 'Leeches Pt 1', however, swiftly gets things back on track and 'Auto Pilot' with its delightful marimba accompaniment further lightens the mood. The respite is only momentary however: the wallowing swampy blues of 'Romance' kicks in to muddy the waters. Closing track 'Got That Feeling' has certain finality about it: a mood further enhanced by its horn accompaniment and puts the lid on a debut LP that demands multiple listens. Uber-cool Stateside label Swami, the same guys who brought us Detroit’s Rocket From The Crypt, have unearthed a rough diamond here. Treasure it.

Track Listing:-

1 Tryin To Say
2 P.C.B. 98
3 I Could Have Had You
4 Walk Among The Cobras Pt. I
5 Cobras Pt. II
6 Cobras Pt. III
7 Place To Call My Home
8 Love Is Crimson
9 Leeches Pt. I
10 Lonely Hearts
11 Metropolis
12 Auto Pilot
13 Romance
14 Got That Feeling

Band Links:-

http://dansartain.com/
https://www.facebook.com/DanSartainOff
https://www.youtube.com/user/DanSartai
https://plus.google.com/+DanSartainOff
https://www.songkick.com/artists/54526