GASLIGHT ANTHEM - AMERICAN SLANG

BLUE COLLAR HEROES BARE THEIR SOUL…

Brian Fallon became a rather understated sensation last year. The New Jersey band’s second album, ‘The 59 Sound’, was greeted with critical acclaim as their eponymous introduction to blue collar rock and roll, and that’s exactly what it was. A huge leap from their debut, ‘59 Sound’ bought fantasy and romanticism back into music. Embellished with lustful street-dwelling lovers who raced cars in the setting Jersey sun, it was a Springsteen-influenced audio movie depicting the working class American dream, and that was the easy bit…

Following ’The 59 Sound’ was always going to be a demanding affair. Fans of ‘Sink Or Swim’ were left divided by the polished production and theatrics of ‘The 59 Sound’ that saw this band mature from backstreet punks, guerrilla gigging in garages and hardcore venues to rock ’n’ roll visionaries who wanted something much more. And there’s nothing wrong with ambition in my eyes. So when we learned about the release of ‘American Slang’, their pertinently named third album, expectation was once again aroused.

After seeing Gaslight twice last year, once in Brighton and once at Glastonbury, I was taken back by a few things. Firstly their rousing character based anthemic rock ’n’ roll and secondly by Brian Fallon’s irrefutable charisma. He’s an a amalgamation of chivalrous 50s film star, polite and courteous, yet retaining a serious flair of desirability, but even better than that, Fallon is a rock and roll preacher who is here to craft stories of the legend of love in the urban jungle of N.J.

Title track, ‘American Slang’, opens the record with swelling guitars and a bubbling intensity that thrusts like a packed punch of power-punk and blistering guitars. ‘Stay Lucky’ could have easily slipped its way onto ‘The 59 Sound’. It’s typically racing solos ping above the gritty riffs of some acutely rockin’ guitars, but it’s purpose here is to provide eclecticism and diversity, as becomes clearer later…

Fallon’s always referenced great singers and bands in his past songs. Tom Petty and Miles Davis, to name a few, and it’s this that has always put them on a plinth for me. Fallon understands music. He understands where its from and where it’s going, and he pays homage to these past visionaries with various name drops, but by the time ‘The Diamond Church Street Choir’ kicks in with its soulful finger-clicking and graceful execution that we can begin to realise just how big this back catalogue of heroic musical veterans is. Elegantly Fallon swoons his way through this poignant anthem that reeks of New York soul, whole heartedly confirming that this record owes as much to the Motown collective as it does to The Boss.

‘The Queen Of Lower Chelsea’ continues in themes of nostalgia and tender topics as Fallon sings ‘American girls, they want the whole world, they want every last little lad in New York City’, and his heightened reference to a distinctly British term is a reoccurring premise as they record soon displays. References to libertines and London town make this album all the more accomplished. It’s a diverse experience, but it’s one that certainly understands the listener, giving us the punk they’re known for but adding something special, something that makes the Gaslight more than just a punk band, it makes them a rock and roll band.

‘Boxer’ is s fruity number, opening like a West Side Story street busk, accapella chirps are quickly extinguished by poppy guitars and drum sections in which Fallon pens hit wit upon subjects of adulation for his heroic elders and standing tall against the character-building beats we all endure, whether physical or mental.

The thing about Brian Fallon is that he wants to write songs about things that matter, and that doesn’t have to mean bogus political messages, nor is he trying to spray his ideologies or social stance upon any hum-drum carefree issue, he’s singing about the little things that matter. And although music can be used a method of influence etc. he feels its more about the romanticism of hope and lust, about the untold stories of every day men and women who craft the real movie scripts of our generation, and I think he’s right. So with that all said and done, the only other assessment to make is to say that the Gaslight have shown a leap of progression. ‘When We Were Young’ is an sweet ode to youth that bellows with the maturity that they’ve recently established, and although there are minimal hints of vague stagnancy (’Orphans’) they’re easily over shadowed by the heart that the New Jersey four-piece have poured into this profound third instalment of, what is soon to be, new romantic rock ‘n’ roll. Fallon puts it perfectly when he sings, ‘the clothes I’ve worn just don’t fit my soul anymore…’ perfect.