On the cover of this album you see a picture that looks like it was taken in the 1940s: a man wearing a suit and old leather shoes, carrying an old leather suitcase in one hand and a hat in the other. Add these visual clues to the fact that the album is on the New West label, and you might end up expecting a program of gritty, country-influenced singer/songwriter fare, with chiming guitars, angst-ridden lyrics, and the occasional pedal steel in the background. Wrong. The very first song, "God Was in the Water," starts things off with an almost
Bootsy Collins-ish bass sound and over-tremoloed guitar, both of which lead up to the entrance of
Bramblett's artlessly rough voice. He keeps you off guard through the rest of the album, chugging funkily through the talking blues of "Get in Get Out," veering off into horn-driven jangle pop on the gorgeous "Peace in Here," and mixing rusty-sounding slide guitar with drum loops and flat vocal declamation on "Hard to Be a Human." This is one of those albums that keeps revealing itself; you may not start really cluing in until the third or fourth listen. ~ Rick Anderson