Band Of Skulls - Sweet Sour

I saw BofS a few years ago at a club in town and was quite taken with them. British, but wearing US garage rock on their collective sleeves. Without fail, when playing "Death By Diamonds And Pearls" on the bar jukebox, someone invariably asks me if it's a Jack White side project.

I don't think that the trio will be facing that close a comparison with their sophomore effort. It doesn't stray too far away from it's debut. But there is definitely a desire to branch. Respectable, but their branch is a low hanging, heavy with fruit, mellow branch. "Wanderluster", "Lay Your Head Down" and "Navigate" are simply not worth it. Maybe if they built to something like The Joy Formidable does, but these guys seem to be trying to keep it spooky. As "Close To Nowhere" closes, I was afraid that they were going to start singing "I'll Be Your Mirror".

The single below stays true to expectations, a plodding blues riff which is fun and white-boy-sexy enough to dance to. The drummer is Bonham-deliberate and delivers the goods on this track. And whoever produces the band gets that right throughout the 3 or 4 songs where drumming applies.

Another highlight grabs the best of old-school Black Keys (when Patrick got frenetic and weird) and mixes it with a wordsmithitude of an Alex Turner with a great title. "You're Not Pretty But You've Got It Goin' On". Good job. But that and "Lies" pretty much makes up the songs that rock on the album. And I feel that that's where the band's strengths lie. Rocking, not atmosphering. (2.5 of 5 stars)