Being stuck all by yourself can change how a person does things.
Ron Gallo has learned a bit about that; he was planning to stay in Italy with his new bride to make music and enjoy life when the COVID-19 lockdown of 2020 forced him to go back to his home in Nashville, which meant a lot of time spent in an empty house with only his home studio for company. While most folks would have gotten seriously bummed out under these circumstances,
Gallo somehow got happy...well, kind of. 2021's Peacemeal, cut in bits and pieces before and during quarantine, is a significant departure from the scrappy but rootsy garage-influenced sound of 2017's
Heavy Meta and 2018's
Stardust Birthday Party. Though guitars still play an important role in the arrangements, Peacemeal is at heart a pop album, with the artist embracing electronics in a new way and absorbing the influences of contemporary R&B and hip-hop. Filtered through
Gallo's sensibilities, that means many of these tracks sound like the work of a nerdy white guy with some keyboards and rhythm programs, but he's one with a pretty good sense of groove and enough cool passion to make his songs of love and longing connect. More than a little pining, frustration, and isolation is audible in this set of songs, though the layers of keyboards, filtered vocals, and digital sheen give the record a feel much closer to self-therapy than wallowing in a bad mood. The all-to-common annoyances of losing your health insurance ("Cancelled!"), the perils of boredom ("Saturday"), and finding out your friends are in worse shape than you are ("You Are Enough") fuel these songs, and as much as
Gallo struggles in his lyrics, he's not giving up. Lines like "Thank you for giving me no choice but to believe in myself" and "The topic of life should never be political, it's the one thing we all have in common" are addressed to himself and his audience with equal fervor. If the remake of "All the Punks Are Domesticated" is sadder and more resigned than the original on
Heavy Meta, it's also more urgent, and full of the belief that the status quo must be changed. At 29 minutes, Peacemeal has the feel of a starter project where
Gallo is still working out the kinks in a new style, though the adventurous feel and eagerness to look into his own soul more than compensates, and this could be the beginning of an exciting new chapter in his life and career. ~ Mark Deming