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On his new full length Slim Cessna has again assembled a powerhouse of Denverites to make up his Auto Club. Denver has had a long run of dark country bands (not "alternative" but distinctly not Nashville) and it seems like a member of every one of those bands has been part of the Auto Club at one time or another. Maybe they're all likable and helpful folks, or maybe they just know a good song when they hear it. There's plenty of good songs for them to hear on "Cipher".
The band (featuring frequent collaborator Jay "Munly" Munly) has found a home at Alternative Tentacles Records. A casual perusal of the label may lead you to think that Slim Cessna's Auto Club may be some kind of "cow punk" band. But that's not the case. First, AT records has moved well and beyond a traditional, safe definition of punk. Second, it only takes one song by SCAC for you to realize that they are not part of some sort of slap-dash, half-ass pseudo-genre like cow punk. They're a country band, but a fearless one. Sure they've heard punk and must have loads respect for the punk attitude but they much too syncretic of a band to be hyphenated-anything. What elements Cessna wants, he takes. Then Slim then sculpts them into a coherent whole.
Does a song need a somber vocal choir? Then a somber vocal choir it shall have (see the albums four "Introduction" pieces). Are horns appropriate? He brings them in on "Everyone is Guilty #2". Rollicking garage rock organ makes its voice heard several times, most effectively on the stand out track "Boom Magalina Hagalina Boom". But the basis remains country, remains americana.
Like the Legendary Shack Shakers this is revival tent preacher music. It's filled with as much dirt and liquor as it is fire and brimstone (not to mention piss and vinegar... what do you think happens when you drink that much?). Nor surprisingly this fourth album by the band is by turns doomy and droney then barn-burning and rip-snorting. Having grown up on a farm I can attest to the roller coaster that leads you from dark, deep introspection to liquid fueled revelry. It's this bi-polar approach to music that makes country music (*good* country music) a vital art form. It's why Denver is alive and all those Nashville photo-opportunity fools are dead. They have no weight, and Slim Cessna and his crew are heavy. Not the loud/fast "heavy" that gets bandied about in metal/punk circles, but philosophically deep: the kind of heavy that can crush your soul (or give you the concrete steps to bring you up out of the sludge).
You're right to assume that there's a lot going on here. But it works. Cessna is a solid composer and is careful to select amazing musicians to work with. Producer Robert Ferbrache has done a commendable job of making each artist shine and helping fire the band's handiwork into their best work to date. Ferbrache does this without ever feeling the need to shout "Look at the INCREDIBLE PRODUCTION", he's like a theatrical set designer: he knows that the best production is the one you notice least.
I say get a membership with the Auto Club, it may not always take you where you expect to go but the trip is always worthwhile and your money's better spent on this than on AAA.
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