So what happens when the anger goes? That's the question I was asking as I listened to this album. Mystr Treefrog's last album "Bats Will Scatter" was an irresistible combination of swamp rock and precisely targeted rants. Now that the Bush Incarnate has been removed from the White House, surely there is nothing left for this angry young man to get all upset about.
That's true up to a point. This album is an altogether lighter, altogether less aggressive album that feels right at home next to a six pack of your favourite beer. Not that Mystr Treefrog has gone all soft and cuddly, of course, but he has gone a bit allegorical and become more of a storyteller than an orator. From cautionary tales of a life gone wrong ("Jefferson Nova and Kelly Chevette") through the Harry Chapin hits the road to nowhere ("Slow Shapes") to steamroller swamp blues ("God's Gift 2 Man"), there's no lack of variety on show. There are plenty of stories out there and telling them to an accompaniment of a rock solid groove is what Mystr Treefrog does.
Anyway, any album that starts with "…if Jesus had a dog, his name would be Spike" is never going to be entirely straightforward. Oh, and any album that features the demon guitar of Gary Bushmaster Brown is just fine with me.
You can get it from CD Baby.