4/5: Two Gallants employ stylized imagery from the past to produce a powerful commentary on the present in their unconventional new album, What the Toll Tells.
Two Gallants take their name from a short story in James Joyce's book, Dubliners. Although this is an album review, the reference offers an important insight into the themes and structure of What the Toll Tells (Saddle Creek), the sophomore effort from this San Francisco-based duo.
One of Joyce's main literary techniques was what became known as the "mythic method," or using a classical, universally-known story (such as Homer's Odyssey for his masterpiece, Ulysses) as a framework for discussing contemporary issues.
In many ways, this is the approach of Two Gallants on their latest album. The songwriting of Adam Stephens (guitar, vocals) and Tyson Vogel (drums, vocals) is brimming with Southern Gothic imagery that is gritty, visceral, highly visual and always strangely familiar. Blending the pensiveness of folk, the catharsis of Delta Blues, and the ferocity of punk rock, the band uses a stylized vision of the past-full of murderers, gunslingers, street urchins, and manual laborers-to comment on the present.
For Two Gallants, the world appears as a labyrinth of dusty dirt roads and dark alleys, both of which are full of violence, hardship and characters teetering on the edge of sobriety and/or sanity. The Joycesque mythic tradition is most easily identifiable in such tracks as the retelling of the biblical story, "Prodigal Son," the reinterpretation of the traditional river-boat song, "Long Summer Day," and the protest-oriented, "Waves of Grain" (as in "amber waves of grain").
From the moment when Stephens' voice shatters the windswept, Gun Smoke introduction of the album's stellar first track, "Las Cruces Jail," the listener knows this record's strength rests in its willingness to upset traditional approaches to music-making. In fact, this album doesn't just rock the boat, it grabs the side and tips the occupants into a nest of water moccasins.
Of the album's nine tracks, six clock-in at over five minutes. This would normally be a slippery slope toward overkill, but Two Gallants counter these potential landmines by constantly switching keys, styles and tempos.
"Threnody," for example, begins with a meticulous, contemplative section of Stephens' signature finger-picking and a few eerie chants. Then, for nearly ten minutes, the song builds toward a rollicking, angst-ridden chorus. Here, and throughout the album, Vogel's percussion work, especially with the bass kit-drum, adds several layers of emotion and energy that enlarges the sound far beyond that of an ordinary two-piece.
While many will look back on this album as one of the year's best, it also has the potential to be a very polarizing work. Stephens' rough, throaty voice will turn off some listeners, and despite the band's best efforts, some will find the songs simply too long and meandering.
Nevertheless, What the Toll Tells is a smart, passionate and daring record from an exciting young band. Using the lens of the past to refocus contemporary issues is a worthwhile strategy that music fans can only hope Two Gallants will continue, expand upon, and refine even further.
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