Arliss Nancy “Greater Divides”

Arliss Nancy are a band who certainly tick a lot of our like boxes, as demonstrated by the comparisons to The Gaslight Anthem and Lucero. Their website even describes them as being a blend of rock and roll, punk, and alt-country, which sounds exactly like the stuff we love. However, if we’re being totally honest, when we reviewed their last album, we liked it but didn’t love it. We were therefore keen to see what we thought about “Greater Divides”.

The moment we heard opening track “Alluvial”, we knew we were on to something a bit more special this time around. Indeed, following the lead of Lucero, these songs have a wider, more appealing sound. Songs like the opening track and “Factory Smoke” don’t just focus on guitars, but also heavily feature an organ sound. The result is a far more confident and upbeat sound.

Like many bands of this ilk, the shadow of ‘The Boss’ is always looming. It is certainly apparent on “Finches”, a classic Americana flavoured road song. Tracks like “Don’t You Forget” and “Bar Of The Century” are more out and out rockers. They have that Friday night, beer in hand, good music playing feel about them… which pretty much sums up our favourite moment! It’s a similar story with the brilliant “Much Of Anything”. It just makes you wish that you were listening to it in some kind of Southern state, cowboy bar.

That’s the difference with this album, by the time you get to final track “Momentum”, you will have been totally absorbed in the sound. Like all really good music, it just takes you to a different place. Whatever your mood is at the start of listening to this, by the end you will be up for a good time. This is a big step up for Arliss Nancy, at least in our opinion. They’re now standing shoulder to shoulder with their contemporaries. Indeed, this sets new benchmarks for those bands to reach. We’d even go as far to say that if you are in the UK and missed out on tickets for The Boss’ upcoming tour, then you should go out and buy this (for an eighth of the price!) as it will more than compensate!!