There’s a reason why some of the great novelists don’t attempt to write their debut until they are well into their 50s. They need, at least, one great story to tell, and without having lived enough, there’s no reason to expect that a tale of this importance will just fall into your lap or that you’ll know how to tell it accurately.
On their debut album, Backstrom has a few narratives to recount, and it sounds like they’ve acquired the life experience to pull at the heartstrings of an audience of music fans properly.
It all starts confidently enough with “Train Wreck Coming.” Where are you while all of this is happening? All you need to know is that “There’s thunder crashing, and the rain is pouring down.” While this sounds ominous, there’s little to prepare you for the freewheeling, swinging country rock packed into this album opener. It’s a very strong track, an apocalyptic but humorous country swamp.
Now, with mood and location firmly established, Backstrom, the songwriter, and Bart Topher, the singer, are ready to show you this wasteland in better detail. “It’s Too Late” is a tearful ballad complete with bittersweet melodies.
It’s Cormac McCarthy territory, and the artists see no reason to sugarcoat their truth for you. “Animal” features the lyrics “There’s a beast in the heart of the quiet/There’s a lion in the mind of every man.”
And, indeed, if this collection of songs is tied together by any particular overarching theme, it’s something that has to do with men’s sins and the inevitability that somehow they’ll end up judged for them.
This is not to say that the album is not entertaining. Most of the characters that find their way into the songs, however, are nocturnal creatures. “The Traveler” is a Tom Waits-like folk-country number about a mysterious hermit, and “Carousel” advises listeners to make the most of their days or to otherwise prepare for the worst.
A riveting story, no matter if it is a tragedy, should be entertaining for listeners. But as for the people stuck in the world of Backstrom, the thrills have died a long time ago. “Ghost of a Town”, featuring convincing, gritty vocals, tells us about people who slowly but surely lost everything. Album closer, “Darkness,” features pristine female vocals and assures us that all that we’re told only happens in a place of “wickedness and heartlessness.”
But, surely, there’s hope for better days? The Sun’s just about to rise, right? Tell us this is all just a dream!
Just because it’s a dream, it doesn’t mean it ain’t true, or that the author is looking to spare us to gory details. However, “Winter Moon,” one of the album’s most moving tracks, reminds us that “Things are not, but we’re still here.” Perhaps this is reason enough to celebrate, and so is the detail with which this Southern gothic collection of musical stories are told to us.
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