Sulfur City - Talking Loud (2016)

Tracklist

01. Whispers
02. War Going On
03. Pockets
04. Ride With Me
05. Tie My Hands To The Floor
06. Sold
07. Kings Highway
08. Johnny
09. One Day In June
10. Raise Hammer
11. You Don't Know Me

The debut long-player from the Ontario-based rockers, Talking Loud offers up a sweaty, no-frills amalgam of Canadian soul, stormy, psych-blasted blues rock, and Bayou-blasted boogie rock. Led by powerhouse frontwoman/electric washboard enthusiast Lori Paradis, who sounds like Cowboy Junky Margo Timmins possessed by Grace Slick, Sulfur City tear through an 11-track set that aims for Saturday night urgency, but suffers from the lack of an audience. Fevered opener "Whispers," a real barnburner that comes closest to whipping things into a true frenzy, sets the tone, but the rote, Deep Purple-ish "War Going On" fails to capitalize on the fervor. At times, Paradis and guitarist Jesse Lagace come off like a juke joint version of Exene Cervenka and John Doe, especially on the blazing Celtic-stomp gem "Raise the Hammer," and the band tears through each song with the nervy ease of seasoned barflies at an Irish wake. That said, the album's unfussy production leaves Sulfur City a bit too naked. That current that runs through a smoke-filled room as last call approaches eludes them in the studio, though not for lack of trying to re-create it. Everything is in its right place, but it all feels a little too much like a soundcheck.

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