All The Good Blank Are Taken
Dandy Ram, 2021
9/10
Listen to All The Good Blank Are Taken
The Australian rocker Eden James is in fine company on this 4th studio album, where Charles Giordano (Bruce Springsteen) handles piano, organ, accordion, Larry Saltzman (Paul Simon) contributes guitar and Sterling Campbell (David Bowie) sits behind the drum kit, to name a few.
“Bad Girl” starts the listen with a firm rock’n’roll template where James’ smooth vocals are met with backing female singing as grit and melody meet at a very memorable intersection, and “Black Book” follows with warm acoustic strumming alongside bright piano and a playful Americana spirit.
At the halfway point, the swift “New York” flows with a punchy and very modern take on indie-rock that’s got some soul to it, while “Something Called Love” offers a busy, classic rock friendly album highlight that’s textured superbly.
The final two tracks, “The Villain” and “Negative Space” exit the listen perfectly, where the former is a bit darker but yet with plenty of pretty song craft that includes accordion, and the latter burns slow, dreamy and with plenty of power and melody intact.
James possesses a talent that runs parallel to names like Petty, Reed and Dylan, as he manages to sound both nostalgic and contemporary on this very well thought out effort that puts much emphasis on mood in its very unique Americana formula.
Travels well with: Mike Still- 67 Riot; Chuck McDermott- 38 Degrees And Raining