J. Roddy Walston & The Business “Destroyers Of The Soft Life”

We were blown away when we heard “Essential Tremors” the last album from J. Roddy Walston & The Business so have been eagerly awaiting a new release (and hopefully some UK dates!). With this album promising the melding of engaging, melodic song writing with sharp observations about American culture we were hoping to be in for a treat.

Our hopes for the album are immediately confirmed by “You Know Me Better”. It’s essentially an adult pop song but with a grungier underbelly. Songs like “Ways”, “Bad Habits” and “Bleed Out” have big melodies but also have a bit more grit about them. They’re the sort of songs that could equally appeal to fans of classic alternative US bands like The Replacements or Husker Du (a timely reminder of a great band) and more modern bands like The Killers or Kings of Leon (but a bit less polished).

Whilst firmly in the Indie bracket over here in the UK, it’s not to say that some of the songs have a commercial appeal to them. “Blade Of Truth” is simple in style but has a chorus that you can’t resist swinging along to. Together with “Numbers”, “The Wanting” and “Burn Black” they’re the kind of tracks that you could see BBC 6 music picking up on and rapidly expanding the bands fan base over here. Alternatively, the sublime “Heart Is Free” could appear on a cool indie flick soundtrack and bring them global success.

J. Roddy Walston & The Business are one of those bands that people easily fall in love with. This is a finely crafted album of ten songs (the perfect number for any album!?) that will leave you wondering why everyone else isn’t listening to it. The selfish amongst you might want to keep them as a hidden gem but really you will know that you should be introducing them to everyone that you know.