Halfway through the first listen of this 10-song debut, I was feeling reckless and adventuresome. I wanted to drive long distances, blissfully listening to these songs over and over while checking out blue highways I’d never driven. But I don’t own a car, so I settled for listening to it a gazillion times at home. I’m still enthralled, and I still think this is one helluva great roadtrip disc.
Casual listeners could easily pass over this Frankfort, Kentucky, band as another trying to mimic early Jayhawks or Son Volt or Blue Mountain, although A Standing Ground tallies a higher rocker-to-ballad ratio. There’s a similarity in the tendency toward heavy hooks and gorgeous harmonies. But this album’s distinct gift comes from leader J.P. Hanly, whose meticulously crafted, vision-enticing lyrics whisk you away breathlessly to his world of optimistic despair. Hanly’s words are rooted in poetry, and in fact, the band’s name most likely stems from former neighbor Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk and poet who, before his death, lived in a Kentucky abbey. And the disc’s title is a poem by another well-known Kentucky writer, Wendell Berry.
Hanly’s lyrical beauty is sprinkled throughout all the songs, such as the languid divorce song “What You Want”, in which he pines, “It’s far from over/And it’s far from fun/You just have to remember/It’s what you want.” His voice is edgy and rough-hewn, and as emotion builds in the songs, he loses control in a way that’s pure art.
Musically, the band is your basic two guitars, bass and drums, riding the range between the full-bore grain belt rock of the instantly gratifying opener “Strain” to the gentle musings of the closer, “Kerosene Lamp”, 39 minutes later, the latter fading out on a weeping slide note. The songs, while mostly pained, leave you smiling and sentimental. That feeling lingers in the quiet and airy “Millville Road”, on which Hanly sings, “Take your troubled spirit/And take a draft from what I give and make it last.” No problem. I’ll hit replay.
