NEW ALBUMS
ANDREW GABBARD
Ramble & Rave On!
Black Keys auxiliary cuts loose on solo third
COLEMINE/KARMA CHIEF
AMERICANA
Album of the month
Gabbard: shades of excellence
MITCH LAGROW
7/10
SOMETHING of an unknown quantity outside of his native Ohio, Gabbard made his reputation as guitar-toting frontman of Cincinnati garage-rockers Thee Shams and, subsequently, Buffalo Killers. Both bands featured his sibling Zach, with whom he now records as a duo, the brothers juggling their time between the studio and touring duties with The Black Keys, an association that dates back to Dan Auerbach handling production on Buffalo Killers’ 2008 effort, Let It Ride.
In among all that, Andrew has also chosen to embark on a solo career. His particular brand of fuzz-pedal R&B has parallels with the Keys’ recent output (Gabbard appears on 2022’s Dropout Boogie and this year’s Ohio Players), yet Ramble & Rave On! allows him the licence to mine personal inspirations. He’s clearly a fan of Southern soul, for instance, as illustrated by “Just Like Magic”, wherein his husky falsetto cuts across a supple groove. The pervasive spirit of Laurel Canyon invades “Good Boy”, a hymn to escapism – “Let’s run wild nowhere fast/Let’s howl our favourite song” – sketched in shades of denim-washed guitar. There is, too, more than a dash of classic outlaw country. Tied to a recurring pop hook, it makes “Donna-Lou” sound like a Waylon Jennings/Cheap Trick interchange.
Perhaps the biggest influence on display is that of Neil Young. Gabbard’s fine cover of “Barstool Blues”, with its crying chords and crunchy psychedelia, is an obvious pointer, of course. But there’s also the graceful “If I Could Show You (Then You Would Know What I Mean)”, which couldn’t exist in a world without A ft e r The Gold Rush. By contrast, “I’m Bound To Ride” (with a pedal steel turn by Sven Kahns, the only thing here not played or sung by multi-instrumentalist Gabbard) channels the relentless thump of Crazy Horse, layered with harmonies indebted to CSNY.