PSYCHEDELIA LOVES (SAY BROTHER)
New Band Of The Week (number 2) – Say Brother
In 2012, South Carolina not only treated us to the traditionally-infused country-rock wailings of Shovels and Rope’s ‘O’ Be Joyful’, the adored state also delivered on the lesser-known, throwing Say Brother and their erratic self-titled, self-funded debut into the mix.
The slack-jawed rustic ramblings and granular guitars on songs like ‘Waitin’ On Your To Call’ and ‘Oklahoma Blues’ carry their country sensibilities like a Waylon ballad until the wonderfully razor-sharp electric’s kick in, accelerating these customary numbers into something akin to Mama’s Pride via The Strange Boys. Wonderfully gutsy, unashamedly brutal; it’s the unadulterated marrying of rock and country from the gutter to porch. ‘All I Got Is Time’, in particular, is an ear-splitting shrill of coarse melody and reverberating yells, the stop-start drums and heaving chorus rolls of the tongue like chewing tobacco.
They’re DIY, whiskey-doused, banjo-banging, Marlboro-puffing Southern oddballs, and for me, it don’t get no better than that.