Winning combo of 60s/70s pop, rock and Americana
There’s no denying the retro influences on Blitzen Trapper’s fourth album, their first for Sub Pop, but even with cues taken from Neil Young, Badfinger, Brewer & Shipley, Mott the Hoople, Hearts & Flowers, the Kinks, and pre-disco Bee Gees, this is a decidedly modern album. Tightly self-produced, Blitzen Trapper’s electric pop stretches across ‘60s rock and folky Americana, ‘70s keyboards and synthesizers, and a variety of clever production touches. The wordplay of “Gold for Bread†may remind you of Bruce Springsteen’s “Blinded by the Light†(or just about anything by The Gourds), but throughout the album the imagery is more dreamy than surreal. The man-to-wolf-to-man transformation of the title track, for example, offers an allegory of growth from innocent child to rebellious adolescent to responsible adult that’s both fantastic and comprehensible. Eric Early’s lyrics drifts in and out of sleep, alternately aware and unknowing of his dreamtime imagination. The album’s two most straightforward tunes are also its most highly contrasting, with the ebullient “Saturday Night†running headlong into the dead-end confession “Black River Killer.†The lyrics throw up some memorable poetic images, but it’s the melodies, instrumentals and vocals that set the album’s hooks. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com] 