One Foot In The Ether

Description

The Band of Heathens loosely define the sound theyve achieved on One Foot in the Ether, simply as rock n roll. While the last Heathens album may have been slightly more acoustic and swampier, this album is heavier, both thematically and sonically. Its muscular with electric guitars, Hammond organs, vintage electric pianos, and pill-bottle slides, all fine ingredients for rock n roll in its purest form.
And its all over this album, in tracks like the Gram-Parsons-meets-Neil-Young stomp L.A. County Blues (which pays tribute to the great writer Hunter S. Thompson), the New Orleans/Motown-influenced Say, and the Saturday-night gospel-meetin showstopper Shine A Light. Then theres the back-alley sounds of Golden Calf, which addresses the darker side of humanity with a nod to Tom Waits, the hot-off-the-floor funk of Youre Gonna Miss Me, and four-on-the-floor six-minute-plus jam Somebody Tell the Truth. The hypnotic-sounding closing hymn, Hey Rider, is a call for peace, within and without, according to Brooks. The album contains one cover, the Gillian Welch/David Rawlings tune, Look at Miss Ohio. The record echoes the greats from Dylan to Waits and Townes Van Zandt to Otis Redding, but the band is drawing from the wellspring that is American music to forge something present and immediate and new.