CD Reviews

Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit | Here We Rest

Lightning Rod (2011)

By ZETH LUNDY | April 13, 2011

3.5 Stars

Jason Isbell's stint as the Drive-By Truckers' third axman/singer-songwriter was brief but revelatory: dude was a veritable outta-nowhere sensation who sounded as if he'd been road-tripping in bands of that caliber for decades. Both his songs and his voice served as slick complements to his bandmates' coarser æsthetic, which for six years and three albums gave the group greater depth of character. It's taken Isbell three albums to find his comfortable post-Truckers solo-artist groove, and on Here We Rest, he settles in quite nicely. His songwriting is dependable as always, though his narratives are now marked by a kind of mainstream suave. From the aching shuffle of "Alabama Pines" and the countrified "Codeine" to the sturdy rock of "Go It Alone" and the rumble-tumble of "Never Could Believe," Isbell's go-to existential themes are served up easy. And his voice, once a wise-beyond-its-years baritone, is now smoother, older yet less weathered. This, of course, means he's man enough to tackle fellow Alabamian Candi Staton's classic 1970 jam "Heart on a String," a choice that allows the 400 Unit to flex their Muscle Shoals soul muscles. Which is to say: who needs revelatory when you can have comfort?

JASON ISBELL + HAYES CARLL WITH SHOVELS & ROPE | Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave, Allston | April 23 @ 8 pm | $13 | 617.779.0140

Related: Foo Fighters | Wasting Light, Panda Bear | Tomboy, Fredrick | Flora, More

Topics: CD Reviews , Music, New Music, rock music, More

| More

view all

[ 05/29 ] Brad Hooper @ Andy's Old Port Pub

[ 05/29 ] karaoke with DJ Ponyfarm @ Slainte

ARTICLES BY ZETH LUNDY

SUN KIL MOON | AMONG THE LEAVES | May 22, 2012
The first thing you'll notice about Mark Kozelek's fifth LP as Sun Kil Moon are song titles that would give Morrissey a boner.

THE FIGGS | THE DAY GRAVITY STOPPED | May 15, 2012
These days Mike Gent, Pete Donnelly, and Pete Hayes are involved in enough extracurricular activities (Graham Parker, NRBQ, countless side/session-men gigs) that you could hardly blame them if they closed their two decades-plus Figgs chapter.

BILLY BRAGG + WILCO | MERMAID AVENUE: THE COMPLETE SESSIONS | May 01, 2012
In 1998, and again in 2000, English singer-songwriter Billy Bragg teamed up with Wilco— not yet on their post-Americana trip — to put unreleased Woody Guthrie lyrics to music.

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT | OUT OF THE GAME | April 24, 2012
Out of the Game is being billed as the most "pop" album of Rufus Wainwright's career, which is to say that it dismisses many of his trademark classical and/or stagey affinities.

THE DANDY WARHOLS | THIS MACHINE | April 17, 2012
The title of the Dandy Warhols' eighth record may be a Woody Guthrie allusion, but don't fret — the closest the Portland, Oregon, band get to politics here is a cover of Merle Travis's "16 Tons."