"Owens plays 300 shows a year" boasts the press release for this album. Not this year , that's for sure! You feel for artists like him since the songs are so obviously written to be played live and are significantly less impactful when merely streamed.
The opening tune, Cargo For The Road, was written on a tour bus in the States and the closing song , Last Day of the Festival would have greater sense of pathos if there were any festivals actually happening at the moment.
The highway is no longer jammed with broken heroes because they are all at home hoping and praying the pandemic blows over in time for a last chance power drive.
Undeterred, the co-founder and ex-bassist of Noah and the Whale makes a desperate pitch for anthemic folk-rock solo glory but lands in a mainstream limbo land somewhere between The Waterboys and Bruce Springstreen. Harmonica inserts trade punches with electric guitars so you don't need a 'Cowgirl in the Sand' reference to guess that Neil Young is another of his influences.
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Owens and his band gamely attempt to elevate the bland and predictable material into something more epic. He boldly declares "I will torch it all for love" on the title track but with clunky lines such as "I'll get over you like a soldier does a war" (I'll Be There) he's mostly on a hiding to nothing.
Matt Owens' website
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