The other day, a friend of mine sent me a link to a Bandcamp page. The artist was Jeremy Messersmith, the album was The Reluctant Graveyard. I listened to a couple songs and liked it, so I listened to the whole album on Bandcamp, and I liked them all, so I bought the album. To tell a long story concisely, I must say that I love this album. I bought it as a digital download and I intend to buy the vinyl of it soon - that's how much I like it.
Messersmith takes the guitar sounds of the '60s and '70s and tosses them up against a nice, slick acoustic guitar. Tasteful, effective string arrangements are sprinkled throughout the album. The vocals are bathed in reverb as the vocals become more emotional. The drums give their two cents on a few of the tracks. The album has a kind of Beatles-esque feel, but at the same time it is fully it's own entity, never a sound-alike.
"Dillinger Eyes" and "Organ Donor" are my two favorite tracks. "Dillinger Eyes" is a fun, fast story about a man and his misadventures, all because he was "born with John Dillinger's eyes." "Organ Donor" is a happy, morbid, surf-style tune about death and embalming. "Toussaint, Grey, First In Life And Death" is a slightly sad, almost nostalgic song with some good vocal harmonies. "Tomorrow," the closer to the album, is about taking advantage of now because some things "just can't wait until tomorrow."
Overall, the record is slightly front-loaded in terms of volume and tempo, with the fast, upbeat songs - namely, "Lazy Bones" and "Dillinger Eyes" - at the beginning, and the laid-back, emotional songs making up the tail end. At the same time, the album is not too heavy. It will make a solid addition to anyone's music library.
If you download and enjoy the album, I encourage you all to buy it on Bandcamp or at his website. Messersmith is an independent artist in Minneapolis, and the music is well-worth paying for.
1. Lazy Bones
2. Dillinger Eyes
3. Organ Donor
4. Toussaint, Grey, First In Life And Death
5. Violet!
6. Knots
7. John The Determinist
8. A Girl, A Boy, And A Graveyard
9. Repo Man
10. Deathbed Salesman
11. Tomorrow
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