Two Gallants – The Scenery of Farewell
By: Tim Newby
Like many other rock-duo-bands (The White Stripes, Black Keys), the Two Gallants have stripped down their sound to its basic core (drums & guitar). But unlike other rock duos who try to make up for their lack of instrumentation with sheer raw-power as they fill their music with heavy pounding drums and screaming guitars, the Two Gallants have taken a minimalist touch to their sound. Instead of trying to overcome their lack of sound with over-amplified aggression, they have let those silences and gaps in between notes create their own power, providing an almost haunting atmosphere to their music.
By: Tim Newby
Like many other rock-duo-bands (The White Stripes, Black Keys), the Two Gallants have stripped down their sound to its basic core (drums & guitar). But unlike other rock duos who try to make up for their lack of instrumentation with sheer raw-power as they fill their music with heavy pounding drums and screaming guitars, the Two Gallants have taken a minimalist touch to their sound. Instead of trying to overcome their lack of sound with over-amplified aggression, they have let those silences and gaps in between notes create their own power, providing an almost haunting atmosphere to their music.
Since their inception in 2002, Adam Stephens (guitar) and Tyson Vogel (drums) have fused a ragged punk feel with their take on the Delta Blues and delivered it with a folk-singer’s sense of story telling. Their recent release, the EP Scenery of Farewell (which is only an appetizer for their full-length release in September) enlarges on this idea. It is a beautifully crafted acoustic-based album that has a spooky ethereal mood that is perfect for drinking alone, as Stephens sings on “Up the Country”, “Some cheap box wine to ease my pain.” Their music has always had a real depth and emotion that belies their young age, and this is never more apparent than on the five passionate tracks that make up The Scenery of Farewell.
With each song seeming to touch on the theme of loss and alienation they evoke a real sense of self-reflection in each of us, as we can all relate to their powerful, yet straightforward lyrics; “Baby, let your light shine on me/ When I'm lost on the road / You know you could set me free/ You could ease my load/ Days get so dark that I can't hardly see/ I've been gone so long, it seems like home to me”(from the opening “Seems Like Home”). When their words are combined with Stephen’s wavering voice, which seems on the verge of breaking at any moment, it only serves to deepen the emotional toll of each song.
Written while on the road during sound-checks and rehearsals, Scenery moves at a slightly less energetic pace than their previous releases, but this slowed down approach has allowed their always-impressive skill for storytelling to move to the front. While their previous albums seemed to touch on larger themes with their lyrics. The new album is a tour through the bands own psyche, providing an intimate look into their pain and loneliness while on the road. The five-songs when listened to in order provide an almost coherent story, starting off with the slightly more optimistic “Seems Like Home” and moving through their emotions as they get progressively lonelier and more alienated, singing, “let this be our last goodbye” on “All Your Faithless Loyalties”, before ending with the heartbreaking “Linger On”. As Stephens sings about a relationship shattered beyond repair, “But you can miss the hollow of my hand/ And all the lives that we had planned/ And all the jealousies you sowed” before ending “And if I did you wrong, it/ Wasn't me, but you who wrote this song”, Vogel drums along sounding like the heartbeat of a slowly dying man.
One might assume that with so much loss being sung about on the album that it is unlistenable. Who wants to bashed over the head for thirty-minutes with another man’s pity? But Scenery to Farewell does not feel like it is bashing you over the head, it is a dark, deeply, moving album that provokes a real sense of emotion. So put this album on, grab a beer, open a bottle, or pour some wine, then sit back and listen and drink alone.
