"Creep Juice" is more of a jazzy ballad, with congas from Alfred Lund and Soosman this time lending some Kenny G on the tenor sax. The whole "creep juice" repetition and bending in the chorus was not my personal bag. Your icky meter may vary.
Truly, they save their best material for last. "Player Piano" is an inside-baseball take on being a local band, when a player piano gets paid as well as a four-piece band, and the build sort of stumbles from the open like a player piano revving up. At the very least, there's good consolation in knowing Shain has something to say.
At the finish, "Bath Salt Shuffle" again is solidly contemporary and serious without taking itself too seriously, and gives new meaning to "if you can call that dancing." It's got great pace, and while the harmonica will make you think of Blues Traveler that's not necessarily a bad thing.
"If you're tired of hand sanitizer/If you want bugs crawling in your skin/Do the bath salts." That's quite the sales pitch. Make sure you stick around for the keyboard solo, too. It's a rave-up.
Just like the album as a whole. It may not move the dial of music history forward, but it's a pretty good time for a Friday night.
A SONG WE KNOW | Released by Sam Shain and the Scolded Dogs | facebook.com/sam-shainmusic
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Music Features
, Medeski Martin, Hallowell
