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Limbeck:
Hi, Everything's Great
Here's the bad news about Limbecks album, Hi, Everything's Great: nearly every song sounds the same. However, the good news is that said sound is loose, loud, country-inflected rock n' roll, which, at least in my book, is never bad. Limbeck started their career as a San Diego power-pop band until years of hard touring in a cramped van across America's heartland brought out their inner twang, though the resulting mixture is more Matthew Sweet than alt-country. Frontman Rob MacLean gets his songwriting inspiration from real-life experiences on the road that he documents with rolls of film, resulting in songs that are intimately detailed snapshots of his life. MacLeans attempt to capture such slices of real-life Americana luckily does not stand in the bands way of incorporating the experiences into their trademark hummable melodies. The Rolling Stones and Uncle Tupelo are obvious influences. Most of the songs are enthusiastic, foot-stomping barnburners, like Honk + Wave, Brand New Orange, and I Wrote This Down, while Julia in particular has a deliciously catchy chorus. In Ohio on Some Steps, is a beautiful change of pace a yearning acoustic meditation on the universality of human emotion and the desire for stability. Yes, life on the road for a touring rock band can be repetitive, exhausting, frustrating, and lonely, but Limbeck show that it can also be an inspirational, soul-stirring opportunity to tap into a vein of creativity and suck the marrow out of life.
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