Everywhere You’ve Been
Lonesome Whippoorwill, 2021
9/10
Listen to Everywhere You’ve Been
If you’ve spent anytime in the midwest, and especially if it’s Minnesota, you’ve certainly heard the name The Suicide Commandos before. An early punk outfit who inspired legends like Husker Du and The Replacements, Steve Almaas handled bass and vocals for their brief but impactful existence (The Suicide Commandos would end up reforming for a new album in 2017).
Almaas has had a colorful and busy career since, including playing in The Crackers and Beat Rodeo, and he’s now 6 albums deep into a solo career that welcomes pop and roots song craft alongside a handful of esteemed friends/musicians.
The title track starts the listen with warm vocal harmonizing as pedal steel and crisp percussion enters the rootsy rock setting that’s aglow with beauty, and “Goodbye Nicolina” follows with proficient acoustic guitar and dual gender vocals helping emit a breezy form of Americana.
Elsewhere, the album highlight, “1955”, shuffles with a contagious energy of jangly, classic rock and rockabilly nods that might get you heading for the dance floor, while “The Way I Treated You” displays meticulous nylon-string guitar playing from Jon Graboff as Almaas looks back on the past in a Roger Miller sort of way. “She Don’t Love You”, another exceptional tune, then gets a bit gritty but certainly melodic as Almaas take a look in the past, musically.
Close to the end, “Bred In The Bone” displays some subtle gestures towards the punk past of Almaas includes keys and electronica amid a scrappy rock formula, and “The One Thing That I Cannot Do” exits the listen with an aching and spirited delivery of lush, country friendly ideas.
An artist who has seen and done just about everything one can do in the music industry, though he’s a school teacher by day, Almaas is still first and foremost a songwriter, and while his punk rock days might be long gone, he uses all the things he’s picked up along the way on this diverse and often nostalgic masterpiece.
Travels well with: The Jayhawks- XOXO; The Long Ryders- Psychedelic Country Soul