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(2015) Buxton - Half a Native
Review:
For its third album, the band Buxton relocated from their native Houston to L.A. to work with producer Thom Monahan, who’s manned the boards for recordings by Devendra Banhart, Vetiver, and Beachwood Sparks that bridge the span between ’60s folk pop and modern indie rock, and together they crafted an album, Half a Native, that deserves to be filed right next to them, thanks to its blend of sugar-sweet hooks and honky tonk twang.
Half a Native is a departure from the rustic sound that earned the band a devout following in the explosive Houston scene and beyond. While their acclaimed 2012 album Nothing Here Seems Strange leaned toward folk, Half a Native ventures into vast sonic territories, sometimes pairing atmospheric piano with off-kilter electric guitar, blanketed by Trevino’s heart-clenched voice and melancholic, but optimistic lyrics. “We take from a lot of different genres and present it in a way that I think is most honest for us,” Trevino says. “You’ll hear rock, folk, country, ambience, and distortion, all interpreted through us.”
Monahan’s work shines throughout, from the darkly cinematic “Old Haunt,” in which, as Trevino explains, Monahan “stripped it down to the root of the song, with a nice little twang sludge vibe that goes along with the tone of the bleak lyrics. It reminds me of a chain gang of ghosts,” to the title track, “Half A Native,” which elides acoustic strums from Trevino’s $30 thrift store guitar with the distant textures of Jason Willis’ lanky slide guitar. The seemingly disparate sounds and textures could be jarring, but Buxton seamlessly weaves them together in a unified sound and feeling.
Perhaps benefiting from this new dynamic the most is the album’s centerpiece, “Miss Catalina 1992,” a driving, punky burst of indie rock self-described as the most “rock” song the band has ever written. Originally beginning life as a stripped down acoustic tale, it was spontaneously revved up following the band’s excitement after learning they were heading to LA to record with Monahan. “It’s by far my favorite song to play, it gets so wild and jittery with energy, like a game of raging musical chairs,” Trevino says.
“Icebreaker” meanwhile hints at the band’s Texas roots and marries some deft piano playing from Adam MacDougal of Chris Robinson Brotherhood with psychedelia-laced honky-tonk and twang, adding up to what Trevino describes as a “sort of Gram Parsons on speed sound.” “Pool Hall,” a song about that universal all-consuming feeling of being compelled to talk to an attractive stranger after locking eyes across the room, closes out the album on a stately, beautiful note.
Rating
Tracklist:
01-01 What I'd Do.flac
01-02 Good As Gone.flac
01-03 Old Haunt.flac
01-04 Half A Native.flac
01-05 High Tones.flac
01-06 Miss Catalina 1992.flac
01-07 A Little Bit More.flac
01-08 Be Somebody Else.flac
01-09 The Heart Won't Bend.flac
01-10 Icebreaker.flac
01-11 Pool Hall.flac
Summary:
Country: USA
Genre: Indie
Media Report:
Source : CD
Format : FLAC
Format/Info : Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : ~674-915 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
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