RIYL: Silvertide, The Black Crowes, The Allman Brothers, Johnny Lang
At its best, southern rock has the capacity to be ballsy, sexy, foot stomping, emotionally compelling, even epic. At its worst, all the exaggerated angst and ribaldry can seem rather pointless. Far too often, Wheelhouse veer dangerously close to the latter category. Still, while they don’t exactly bottle lightning, at times this Indianapolis five-piece manages to take some potent snapshots of life on America’s margins. Lead singer Ryan Powell has a real knack for storytelling and succeeds in spots at conjuring some moving tales of fractured love and failed ambition. Unfortunately, most of the 12 tracks on their 2007 LP “Say Hello” point to a key flaw in a lot of southern rock- lack of solid songwriting.
Rather than using chord changes, most of the tracks are built around standard southern rock riffing and the resulting melodies rarely achieve much depth, width, or emotional heft. While no offense to Skynyrd fans is intended, it’s probably not a coincidence that the best tracks on “Say Hello” abandon the usual constraints of their genre and showcase some more inventive songwriting.
Track 3, “Devil in the Sun” is a dark and ominous ballad that begins with delicate finger picking and finds Powell sounding pained as he sings, “Staring hard at a beautiful scene/ Happiness in a magazine/ Tell me baby why do you cry/ I will find a way to get us by.” The song is a definite highlight that skillfully adds minor piano chords, acoustic strumming and hazy electric guitar lines, building towards a powerful crescendo.
“Say Hello”, the title track, is a more pop-leaning strummer with quick acoustic chord changes reminiscent of Jack Johnson and lighthearted lyrics that find Powell so smitten with his crush that he “cant find the words to even say hello.” Here onwards, the album moves into mostly forgettable blues rock territory, and its not until late in the album that Powell makes a more memorable attempt at channeling a down-and-out character named “Sammy” who’s “As big as a whale/ Smokes pot all day” and “Thinks he’s going to hell. ”
Though there are some bright spots on “Say Hello”, Wheelhouse would be better served by some guided diversification. With a great producer to nudge these guys out of their shells, all the elements are here for an exciting young rock band, but for now its probably safer for southern rock die-hards to stick with “Free Bird”.
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For More Information Visit:
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http://www.wheelhouseband.com
http://www.myspace.com/wheelhouseband
