Last year I reviewed a CD of Woody Guthrie covers (‘Better World Coming’) by Lowlands and friends. Well, the latest album, ‘Beyond’ is LOWLANDS on their own, and I have to say that Italy’s top band still keeps the standard high.
Whereas the Woody covers album was primarily acoustic, this album positively crackles and fizzes with energy. There are various styles which run throughout the album, from new wave, country rock, alt rock and acoustic songs.
The album opens with ‘Angel Visions’, a new wave style track with some fuzz guitar and some keyboard lines that sound like they were last used on The Fall’s ‘Dragnet’. The mood here is one of darkness and paranoia, as Edward Abbiati intones: “Streets of fear are closing in, city lights lost in the night/ Mama’s crying in the backyard, burying her face in her apron... Leather jacket on my back, fast cars tearing up the night/ Pills in my system, I feel so numb, searching for the gold lost in this hole.” This is a great track of urban alienation and was quite a surprise for me, being a complete departure from anything else I’ve ever heard by Lowlands.
Other tracks on the album which really stood out for me were ‘Ashes’, with its country style guitar and keys well into the background, this is a cool rock ballad. The lyrics are spot on and paint a very vivid picture in the imagination: - “All the ashes blew away then the rain dribbled down/ We were all standing, and then I felt a chill/ It ran down my spine, I felt like drawing a line/ Between the living and the dying and let the dead go on ahead.”
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I personally preferred some of the slower acoustic songs on the album, as I felt they had a greater depth, such as the excellent ‘Homeward Bound’ (nothing to do with Simon & Garfunkel), which had some excellent lyrics. Edward Abbiati certainly knows how to tell a story, and sells it well: - “The road it knows my name, you and me were just the same/ We were running out of life, we were running out of time/ Lonely acrobats walking the line/ Floating beneath the air, broken angels searching for a prayer.”
The title track, ‘Beyond’ is another excellent example of the band’s strengths. Featuring acoustic guitar, cello, dobro and piano (no drums!) his is a lovely country style track. Once again, the lyrics have a resonance: - “What do you see when raindrops fall? What is it you hear in your soul?/ Where do your own words come from? There is a place where you mean nothing...Only the devil’s luck will keep you from the rocks.”
Overall, I found this a really enjoyable listen, and was pleasantly surprised at the depth and variety in Lowlands’ music. This is well worth getting hold of, and is available from: Lowlands store online
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