The Willows "Roots Run Deep" (Independent, 2009)

Semi-articulate but literate roots rock with a box of hooks

Bostonians six piece The Willows are all for movement - whether it's racing down the road in a stolen car or pushing things along within a struggling relationship. And they've produced an album full of excellent catchy rock songs with a rootsy feel with plenty of twangy guitar and further helped out by roping in a mandolin player on several cuts. You might think 10,000 Maniac in 'Scorpio Rising' mode, you might think 'Harvest'-era Neil Young on 'Meltdown Street', although Courtney Linehan's sometimes indistinct vocals - you may have to snatch at the lyrics as they pass - are much more of a gutsy wail.

'Running' brings to mind a reigned in Hold Steady. And then 'Shaggy Disco' hits you with a wire to the brain guitar riff that bops along like a New Wave one hit wonder. Despite what might sound like a confusing mix of styles in fact everything hangs together really well, and the band are tight as a nut.

They hit the road with 'Forsaken', an instantly danceable rocker blessed with a pair of great guitar hooks, whilst lead vocalist Courtney Linehan declares he "needs a punch in the face just to stay awake". And slip into 'Keep Moving' which tricks you in with a gentle acoustic opener, but becomes progressively louder as the chorus is approached. Here Linehan is looking to the future - and it's got to be said it's a pretty melodic future - after 30 years of being "locked in a cage" he's thrown off naivety and has embraced love. This is the high point of optimism. 'A Lot To Learn' is the flipside of this song, as a lover is disposed of with a dismissive "you got a lot to learn about love, too much to fight about / You got a lot to learn about love, I hope you learn someday".

Despite jaunty tunes there's a darker heart to several of the songs; sketchy portraits of lives that only come to life at night, that stop making sense or mattering once daylight returns. 'Drive', a fine song with a suitably driving bass line, eulogises escape from the mundane world by any means possible. Act Like It's OK dwells on the pointlessness of life - "we are building cities just to burn them down" - there is no progress, you sweep one thing away, replace it and then prepare to be swept away yourself by the tidal wave coming to wash everything away. 'Meltdown Street' (which name checks both the band and the album title) drags a life increasingly solitary through an indistinct light.

The closer 'Running' (actually the slowest song on the album) briefly salutes a friend lost to drugs, who needed his friends to help and got no help, but really dwells on the depths of emotion and guilt that won't stay pushed down -"running and stumbling from something I don't know / running away it's going to catch up with me / can't escape yourself".

It could be depressing, if the band weren't so good, and the music wasn't so darn upbeat most of the time, which pushes it way over into the highly listenable category.

Date review added:  Saturday, February 06, 2010
Reviewer:  Jonathan Aird
Reviewers Rating:
Related web link:  The Willows MySpace