***Ben Crum doesn’t need to contend for anything; the leader of the long-running Great Lakes proved himself two decades ago on his very first outing. Contenders, the band’s seventh album, finds Crum basking in a keen sense of roots-y psychedelic Americana that recalls the fertile grounds of Upstate New York. Yet the music itself is a warm, sunny soundtrack that brings to mind road trips across the dusty Midwest and miles and miles of nothing in between. Fans of Built To Spill, My Morning Jacket, Luna, and Deserters Songs-era Mercury Rev will find much to love in Contender’s grooves. But don’t think that because the music ambles along dirt roads that the music isn’t cerebral; Contenders’ subject matter includes philosophical wonderings on love, sex, the temporal nature of man, the frustrations of creative partnerships, and the heady, hopeful times of your late teens and early twenties, where the world seems full of endless possibilities. Contenders offers up some of the finest songs you’ll hear that take inspiration in things such as The Band, the free youth of South Africa, and “The Gambler.” For Contenders, Ben Crum is joined by longtime collaborators Kevin Shea on drums and Suzanne Nienaber on vocals, with contributions from The Essex Green’s Chris Ziter (vocals) , Louis Schefano (drums), Petter Folkedal (piano), Ray Rizzo (vocals) and Dave Gould (synths). The album was produced by Ben Crum, mixed by Luis Leal, and mastered by Jen Munson.
LP $19.95
02/04/2022
***GREAT LAKES emerged from Athens, GA roughly two decades ago, but the band led by singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist BEN CRUM has been based in Brooklyn since 2002. Formed in 1996, Great Lakes was initially part of the Elephant 6 Collective. The band's 2000 debut, mixed by Apples in Stereo honcho Robert Schneider, owed much to the psychedelic pop of the '60s, as did the band's second album, The Distance Between. 2006’s Diamond Times for Empyrean Records, however, offered a significant stylistic progression. Drifting away from the psychedelic milieu, the band's sound took on country and folk leanings, with “Farther” reminiscent of both Wilco’s and Teenage Fanclub's more straight-ahead moments. With the band's 6th album, Dreaming Too Close to the Edge, Great Lakes return with a record that feels both like a natural progression from Ways of Escape and Wild Vision and hearkens back a bit to the band's earlier work. It's a fitting end to an album that, despite its varied styles, is a consistent expression of Crum's ever-evolving songwriting voice, and offers a hint as to the singer's worldview: "seek no one's blessing… there is no lesson." (STREET DATE - 4/06/2018)
CD $13.25
04/06/2018