The hometown seems to be way more important in American music than it is in British stuff. Not many write songs about the non-descript West Midlands town that I live in, but you can’t stop Americans.
Everyone knows about Springsteen, but what about every country record that’s come out in the last 15 years?
And what of The Hold Steady? They wrote these words: “city centre’s over, now no one ever goes there” almost 20 years ago. It seems to me that “Townie” imagines a world where people do, and they don’t like the almost dystopian landscape that’s been left behind.
The brilliant opener here “Sunoco” is epic and understated at the same time, the acoustics of “Smoke On The Highway” where everyone’s looking for escape, or “Your Town” where they actually have, are all cut from the same cloth, introspective, powerful, and apparently deeply personal.
But they’ve always been like this. In 2019 I reviewed their “Orion” album and concluded: “X-Ambassadors are the antidote to all the bland X Factor driven tat. Popular just became rather fun, by virtue of these songs being no fun at all.”
They’re still a massive deal back home, but the sound is a lot more stripped back – not a million miles from Americana this time – as if the two brothers behind the band, Sam Nelson Harris and Casey Harris, together with Adam Levin, have decided to let the words breathe here.
There’s something relentless about “I’m Not Really Here” with its strident lead guitar work and the electronica is still there and back to the forefront of thoughts on the raw “Rashad”, but here it is mixed so cleverly with the likes of “(First Dam)” which sort of floats on by with its matter of fact brutality.
But make no mistake about this, singer-songwriters all over the world would love the voice that Sam has, and they’d love to use words like X-Ambassadors do on “Fallout”.
Wherever you look here there’s something thought-provoking and classy. “Women’s Jeans” finds a falsetto sound as it reflects, while “Half-Life” is a vehicle for the keys – while “Follow The Sound Of My Voice” is beautiful. Dealing with Casey’s blindness directly, it’s the tale of a family bond and a stoicism. Anyone with a disability – your humble scribe included – will recognise this and will feel inspired by it. That’s truly exceptional writing.
“Start A Band” is arguably the most conventional song here. Sam sings: “We’ll take on the world together” and he’s not wrong to be fair. “No Strings” comes from a different place. It comes from Upstate New York, where they left, but now looking back, maybe they still love the locality.
It sounds more euphoric than the rest of the album, that’s for sure. Maybe designed to end on a happy note? Because whatever else “Townie” is its not happy. Maybe a letter to those that are behind still in Ithaca, to remind them they can do it too? Whatever it is, it’s unflinchingly honest and superb as you’d except from one of the most innovative bands in the US.
Small town frustrations, from Brooklyn, New York to whereever you are.
Rating 9/10
