Track Listing:
1. St Judes Parade
2. Breakdown
3. Some Letters Write Themselves
4. Forty Days Of Flood
5. Bellgrove Hotel
6. Mississippi
7. Low Country
8. Darkness Visible
9. Goodbye To The Gilded Lovers
10. Angel Of Destruction
11. Yours Sincerely, 4am
www.myspace.com/godfearingatheists
Rustbelt Sun
God-Fearing Atheists
Set the controls for the heart of Texas, sorry I meant Glasgow. If anyone has a problem with their Americana coming from this side of the pond then step aside. There ain't any good argument against it. In fact Glasgow must be on some sort of leyline with a few American locations. It certainly produces some acts who more than dabble in it. The State Broadcasters, The Endrick Brothers both more than dip a toe. Now for The God-Fearing Atheists.
Rustbelt Sun has been recorded with speaker leaping freshness. Most of it was put straight onto a hard disk recorder at Joe's the lead guitarist's house. He says the producer Ali MacDonald persuaded them to go for walks in the country before some takes, 'to centre their minds.' There must be something in the air round those parts. These boys can play!
GFA forego a one dimensional feast of volume. Think more Jayhawks than Neil Young and Crazy Horse. That's not to say they don't rock. They can muster a serious Black Crowes stomp if called for.
Whilst not quite shaking off their influences these numbers have their own emerging quality. A few of them should propel them onto a bigger stage. They range from the prophetic 'Forty Days Of Flood ( Forty days of love, forty days of rain, washed our dreams away, swept them back the same) to the ragged glory of 'Bellgrove Hotel.' The showstopper is the solid gold Byrdsian 'Goodbye to the gilded lovers.'
If you were in marketing you wouldn't have trouble selling this lot. There's quality and variety. Peter Lacey who penned this album possess a terrific smoky rasp of a voice. He backs it up with sporadic busts of harmonica. A tight rhythm section and twangsome guitars help the fulsome sound. The element that sets them apart from other bands of this ilk has to be the piano though. It tumbles and honky-tonks them onto another level.
This album has a swagger in it's step and deservedly so. It's knows it's good! So hitch a ride with these guys across the low country now. The view's just fine.
Dave Kushar