Guitars, Drums, Tones, and Saxophones

The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang

So, the Gaslight Anthem. Through some pretty relentless touring- not to mention some killer songs- they became darlings of the underground punk community. At least, the portion of said community that spent hours and hours hitting refresh to drop witty comments on Punknews.org. Personally, over the course of a year, (2008) I saw them go from opening for the Loved Ones, headlining a 90 person room, headlining a 600 person room, and finally opening on a national tour for Rise Against, Alkaline Trio, and Thrice. During that year, they managed to release the much-lauded The ’59 Sound and expand their audience significantly. Backlash, sell outs (except they’re still on an indie, kids), etc. They kept at it, touring hard, building a fanbase, playing with Bruce Springsteen in the UK. Crazy.

Now, in 2010, they’re dropping their follow-up to The ’59 Sound, the greatly-anticipated American Slang.

First things first, that reverb on the vocals that so defined The ’59 Sound is nowhere to be found. Neither, for that matter, is the oft-mentioned Maria, or Virginia. And, aside from the use of an old line from “The Navesink Banks,” singer Brian Fallon is apparently done (for now) referencing other songs in his songs. I guess after building nearly an entire song on lyrical references (“High Lonesome”) it was time to scale it back.

Musically, the album continues on the move away from the punk sound of their first album and EP, and toward the sort of working class rock’n'roll that we saw on The ’59 Sound. The music is still distinctively the Gaslight Anthem, and while Brian sounds a bit odd in places- namely, the fantastic “Old Haunts”- his clear, slightly raspy voice hasn’t changed much, which is good, ’cause it might be one of my favorite voices out there today.

The lyrics here seem to reflect one big change in the band; that Brian doesn’t live in New Jersey anymore, so no more references to Jersey nights, or such things. Also, he’s settled into the band’s fame, so no more wide-eyed gazing toward the legendary Hollywood (as opposed to the Hollywood that actually exists). In fact, he lives in Brooklyn, and there are various references to that (“Bring It On,” “The Queen of Lower Chelsea,” also the Williamsburg Bridge on the album cover). Youth, of course, comes up a few times, both in looking back on it (“Stay Lucky”) and the acceptance of its passing. (“Orphans,” “Old Haunts”) Being roughly the same age as Brian, the reluctant giving up on certain parts of youth resonate, as it would with anyone met felt the uncomfortable transition to real adulthood with discomfort and uncertainty.

I’m a huge fan of this record. I think the lyrics are the same sort of earnestness that could be eye-rollingly cheesy if he didn’t mean it so damn much with the catchy, powerful rock music that they’ve come to specialize in. The Springsteen idolatry is still here, but it’s less-so now; the band is comfortable in its own voice and sound, and this, likely, is the record that will really, truly break them in the mainstream. If The ’59 Sound set up the pins, this is the album that will knock ‘em all down. Highly recommended.

Tags: the gaslight anthem