aaamusic | On 13, Sep 2011

Blitzen Trapper – American Goldwing

 

The latest release from the infamous US label Sub Pop Records, Blitzen Trapper return for their sixth studio LP American Goldwing.  Although the group aren’t particularly well known this side of the Atlantic their previous work has seen them endorsed by Rolling Stone as well as appearing on the Jimmy Fallon Show.

Blitzen Trapper have managed to craft a mellow yet interesting album, managing to avoid the trap of being repetitive that so many folk groups seem to fall into.  Songs like Stranger in a Strange Land have been perfectly crafted, combining soft guitar and well suited vocals into a song you could easily fall asleep to, that’s the relaxing effect of the bands work.  Other songs such as Fletcher and My Home Town fare just as well, the group clearly embrace the country side of their music and the end result is something they can be proud of.

Whilst the mellow side of the LP is impressive, Blitzen Trapper’s bid to vary their style and add electric guitar and more pace to some songs simply doesn’t work.  Your Crying Eyes should never have been placed on the album, in fact it sounds like the work of a completely different band.  Street Fighting Sun sounds like a bizarre collaboration between Jack White and The Scissor Sisters, with heavy guitar solos and over the top vocals making the track a steaming pile of turd.

The album turns out to be a mixed bag on the whole, the simplest way of describing American Goldwing is slow & mellow = good, fast and noisy = awful.

The band deserve credit for trying to create an eclectic, cross-genre album but Blitzen Trapper would’ve been much better off releasing half the album as an E.P and just trying to appeal to one target audience.  Fans of Cage the Elephant, Woodpigeon and other alternative indie bands will get a kick out of Blitzen Trapper, they’re definitely worth 10 minutes of your time on Spotify.

Author: Tom Crowther