Clouding Up Your City
Self-Released, 2022
8/10
Listen to Clouding Up Your City
The revered Oklahoma outfit The Damn Quails return with another batch of Okie Roots sounds, where the singer-songwriter Bryon White guides us through both sublime ballads and energetic honky tonk rockers.
“Monsters” starts the listen with warm keys, frisky drumming and smooth singing as a flowing retro-rock spirit enters the rich textures, and “The Highest Shelf” follows with a rootsy feel that gallops with a country appeal.
Further down the line, the intimate “Mile By Mile” offers a poetic and reflective tone with its graceful keys and soulful backing vocals, while “Everything Is Fine” recruits a very literate and timeless folk-rock demeanor that’s full of vivid storytelling and dynamic, crisp musicianship.
Deeper yet, “Someone Else’s City”, the album’s best, is then fuller, where tension and beauty meet with a very dreamy yet rugged delivery, and “Good Times?!” exits the listen bare, with just an acoustic guitar and gorgeous vocal harmonies
This is the first official release since 2016 from The Damn Quails, and it’s an impressive body of work that’s never short on rhythm, grooves, and twangy/folky/soulful grit.
Travels well with: John Calvin Abney- Familiar Ground; Matt York- Gently Used