ROYAL TRUX – THANK YOU
(CHARISMA RECORDS)
This is soulful
fucking record. These songs can reduce
me to tears; take me down when times are not good.
The blues and indie
rock have generally tended to make for awkward bed fellows. Indie rockers don’t generally have trouble paying
the rent. Even if they don’t have the
funds, they have a safety net to cover and catch. The only risk is that of self destruct. This version however is the purest, most
evocative sense. It is affecting and
amazing. What they do is not secret but
it is very special. How it is made
however can be home to secrecy and discretion.
Thank You is a
powerful record. It exudes a weird kind
of gratitude that is not necessarily genuine or sincere. There are two parties present in this
exchange/consumption and it is not exactly clear which is the more important to
the other.
In many ways Royal
Trux is terrifying. The cool desperation
that seeps from every pore, every lick is that of chasing the next sandwich
regardless of which kind of fix that is (and they are in). The band feels so off the mainstream radar
that they might be the basis of militia.
This album tends to
appear in my life in broken situations.
When people belittle me I’ll search it out and bring it up. The pace matches recovery. Released in 1995 the band was now gaining
attention from people with money (industry types) and the fresh direction was
touching a sweet spot between Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones. Rather than being a dilution of a dilution
the charge of empowerment from each source brought a whole new rasping energy
which comfortably sat with their lifestyle, personality and methodology. As Herrema squawked like a modern Janis
Joplin there was something distinctly masculine and bluesy in her motions and
ultimate function of the band. The
broken energy soars more than prior lo-fi gestures.
From the off the band
is acting like a well oiled machine.
Behind Herrema and Hagerty the engine room rhythm section is given a lot
of room breath and with it comes real funk drive as each piece of the puzzle is
given space to star.
Often surface sloppy
the nods to the Stones can be heard hardest in singalong of “Ray O Vac” while
the expansive wail of “The Sewer Of Mars” is quite Led Zep. Indeed the rumbling, bubbling bass of “Granny
Grunt” almost sounds like Thin Lizzy.
Lyrically “Map Of The
City” with its slow sweeping blues of working class crimes contains equally
images of cancer and masturbation while “Lights Of The Levee” with its big
bridges ends with the question “when will the water wash me out?”
Of the more familiar
tracks opener “A Night To Remember” is funk driven promise which saw the band
performing live on The
Word while single “You’re
Gonna Lose” was glorious bargain bin stuff all scuffed and too
damaged/dirty to make a common dent.
The masterpiece is
left to last “Shadow Of The Wasp” literally stings the listener was an explicit
description of a struggle to secure goods.
One Friday night I found myself in a perfect life sync with this track
as during a moment of the blues attached to an impending emotional and physical
exchange in Deptford I
couldn’t decide whether I was caught in the saddest and happiest of times. Slow, subtle and sedate it paints a rough
picture of proceedings ahead of stepping up a gear as it launches into the
chorus where it questions if things were actually better in the past as they
complain about being “sick of searching to get hooked on a feeling”. Then the third movement kicks in and all
erupts heavily layered. All in all its
tiring stuff and then it (and the album) ends on a drum solo. Special.
This is an album that
can change days, maybe even lives.
Thesaurus moment:
benefaction.
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