A couple of years ago I had become quite smitten with Shoestring Universe, the alt country debut release by NYC's Proud Simon. I've found that their sophomore album Night Of Criminals had taken me a little bit more time to form an attachment to, but now that I have, I feel that it is a significant step up for the band.
The album is presented as a concept album of sorts, although the storytelling aspect is kept relatively dubious. According to Brian Keenan's official explanation, the album tells the story of a summer's night and ruminations on life, death and all that other important stuff that said night inspired in Brian.
The CD is also divided in Acts, with Act I remaining musically straight forward, not straying too far from the alt-country pop stylings of the first album, while Act II finds the band expanding a little bit, both in depth and style. The first two songs, Newspaper Boat and Clockwork On and On are catchy songs, sounding rather mainstream in their delivery. It's on the third song, Tar Washed Ashore, where things start getting interesting. The opening banjo meets fuzz guitar meets psych-prog keyboards is something that you don't hear every day, although in this case it works very well, and surprisingly still leaves the song sounding accessible. Everyone On The Train Could Use A Little Change is a solid southern rocker, while Everywhere is a peppy instrumental that could possibly be my favourite song on the album.
Act II begins with Tales As Tall, an eerie number that sets the stage for the menacing second half of the album, equipped with some very chilling cello work. Union Chains dips into a bit of a Fleetwood Mac area, while Second Hand Jackets has a more traditional folksy feel to it. One Night Stand on a Cadmium Yellow Avenue is the greatest pop song that the Counting Crows never recorded and the album ends nicely with Bled Red Wine, a beautiful harmonica laden number that recalls some of the great Harvest like songs of the 70's. Ultimately, I think it's great to see an artist who has the guts to step it up a notch and try something a little bit different from album to album, and hopefully we see Proud Simon continue to do so. -Bobby B.
“Proud Simon are proud bearers of the alt-country tag and their latest effort finds them faithfully carrying the banner for all of us who pine for the golden age of Whiskeytown, Uncle Tupelo and the Bottle Rockets.” -Amplifier Magazine
“As refreshing as a drive in the countryside.” -CMJ
“Carry on chaps with your perfectly palatable pop songs, your lovely loquacious lullabies and your endearingly dry ditties.” -Americana UK
"Underground pop music that sounds like anything but underground pop music." -Babysue
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