Southerly - Storyteller and the Gossip Columnist

  by Maarten Schiethart

published: 25 / 4 / 2009

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Review

This beefy yet dreamy Americana pop album from Portland, Oregon band Southerly was recorded almost three years ago, and only now finally gets a release on Arctic Rodeo. Singer Krist Krueger tries his best to sing-whisper only like Elliott Smith could. Many of Southerly's songs rely heavily too on piano chords, second to John Lennon and Chris Stamey just as Elliott Smith's did. Only towards the end of 'Storyteller And The Gossip Columnist' do Southerly reveal ideas of their own. 'Cold Caller' adds a welcome fuzzy atmosphere to the overall sunny character of Southerly's songs. It is not enough to save this album alas though. Nasal American singers and jangling guitars simply are not my cup of tea, I suppose. Should you ask me, the music industry needs to steer away from its predictable East Coast, West Coast and Britpop obsession, in which you get more of the same babble time and time again. The music industry clearly and dearly misses the broader horizon people like John Peel had.

Track Listing:-

1 Visage Sans Expression
2 Close To The Crime
3 Soldiers
4 A Coarse Design
5 Taking Stock
6 For The Speechless Coward
7 How To Be A Dreamer
8 If We All Forget
9 Pistols In Paradise
10 Cold Caller
11 Dreams That Make Men Free
12 Breath Of My Youth
13 When We Have To Go
14 Simple Simon