The press for Pennan Brae’s 8th studio album says that it is “influenced by rock & roll of the 1970s & 80s”. And certainly, the opening of lead song ‘Won’t You Come My Way’ has a very Rolling Stones guitar riff, a theme that repeats throughout the record. Following hard on this start is the album’s best song ‘El Camino’ which adds Raspberries style pop to the mix.
You might think that in 2021 the possibilities of the guitar bass drums format had been played out. In fact, there is something highly refreshing about it. In an age where even the simplest album is pro tooled to death, Brae’s clear unadorned guitar sound is the more powerful for simply being simple. There is as much 60s garage in this music as later influence, most of the songs on Lit would have fitted in just fine on ‘Nuggets’. 70s style Power Pop is another good reference point. Ten years ago, Brae would have been snapped up by Bruce Brodeen’s Not Lame label for sure.
Other album highlights are the mid-tempo ‘Sashay’, the only place where Alison Jenkins’ backing vocals have much impact, and singles ‘Passing Fad’ and ‘Tearing my Heart in 2’. And there’s the clue. The best songs are the singles, the album is ten tracks long and under 40 minutes long. In other words, a good old-fashioned album. You know where to buy it by now.
Pennan Brae is also a screenwriter and film maker. His ‘The Astronot’ is on Amazon Prime now, and well worth a watch.
There are changes coming to 160gigblog. More content and different content. Watch out over the next few weeks. In the meantime, here’s Pennan Brae’s latest video while you wait.
