1. Crawling (a fondness for hometown scars)
2. In December (beyond our grasp)
3. Troubles Down (attic crawlspace)
4. In This Life (wake up and smell the bodies)
5. Nothing To Lose (x-ray illusion)
6. Sad Eyed Lady (the pressure and need for release)
7. Silver Candy (shivering leafless and hollowed out)
8. Got Monsters (I no longer exist)
9. Son Of A Gun (jail face)
10. Devils Pride (forever in transition)
11. Bleed For Something Beautiful (turquoise bloodline)
12. Society’s Deep Sleep (meat stink)
Decent singer songwriters are hard to come across these days; the standard of whiney crap having been ironically lowered recently by the advent of the excellent Radiohead. There are no more David Bowies or Neil Youngs anymore; more like Devendra Banharts and Conor Obersts, the former with a voice that sounds like a spider slowly crawling up your spine, the latter more self obsessed than any teenager. Keith Caputo however, seems to be different. Sounding more like Wilco than Norah Jones, his album A Fondness For Hometown Scars should be an interesting listen especially as Caputo made his name with metal band Life Of Agony back in 1989 and has since performed with Type-O Negative, Within Temptation whilst also pursuing a prolific solo career.
A Fondness For Hometown Scars lies somewhere between a less eclectic Beck and the sweaty hard rock of Velvet Revolver; the album being split between ‘song’ tracks and rock tracks. Caputo obviously has an ear for a good melody as the first two tracks are solid gold slacker pop songs; equal measures downtrodden and lazy but with great hooks that wouldn’t be out of place in the 60s. However the mood is a bit smirched when rocker Troubles Down comes on. It’s good anyway but perhaps a better track listing could have been thought of?
Incidentally it seems that Caputo can’t manage to keep up the excellent standard set by the first two tracks and whilst maintaining the downtrodden feel, the melodies go out the window in place of all out ponderousness towards the middle of the album. Son Of A Gun provides a temporary release from the reflective monotony and then Devils Pride kicks in, finally making a heavy riff feel like it has a rightful place on the album after all the previous dullness. The album ends with a pretty closer but overall A Fondness For Hometown Scars feels like a patchy affair. It’s excellent in parts but unfortunately this excellence isn’t kept up enough for the duration of the album. Still, this will provide welcome release from the other dirge around now.
Review by Liam McLaughlin
A Fondness For Hometown Scars is out now on Suburban Records |
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