A.A. Bondy - When the Devil's Loose
One of my favorite things about being a music blogger is when you come home and find an unexpected CD in your mailbox. What makes it even better is when that surprise package becomes one of your favorite new albums. That is definitely the case with A.A. Bondy's sophomore CD, When The Devil's Loose. It's been in heavy rotation around my place for the past month, and it shows no signs of giving up it's spot anytime in the near future.
Sometimes your favorite albums have to grow on you, and sometimes you love them from the moment you push play. And when the first plucked guitar notes of "Mightiest Of Guns" came drifting out of my speakers, I was immediately smitten. On most of the tracks, Bondy and his bandmates create a sound that is both sparse and soaring, recalling the ambiance of early Cowboy Junkies' albums, but with slightly more horsepower. The title track operates with the same kind of propulsive lethargy that the Velvet Underground used to specialize in, while "I Can See The Pines Are Dancing" is just a perfect folk-pop song. Bondy's voice sometimes makes me think of what David Gray might sound like if he recorded with a mobile unit in a run down juke joint instead of a bunch of Pro Tools powered computers in a London flat. It might get tagged as blues-folk due to the fact that it's being released on Fat Possum Records, but the blues seldom has the kind of hooks that get stuck in your head the way these songs do. It may be too somber to call it pop music, but that doesn't mean it's not catchy as hell
A.A. Bondy - "I Can See The Pines Are Dancing" (mp3)
A.A. Bondy - "When The Devil's Loose" (mp3)
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