Golden Animals
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Free Your Mind and Win a Pony - Golden Animals Album Review
Album Review
Moody blues - Doors style.
Golden Animals have regurgitated the sound and mood of doom rockers The Doors, with some class and style - it doesn't end there. Donning gear like Devendra Banhart, hairy Baltimore-born guitarist Tommy Eisner and Swedish born songbird / drummer Linda Beercroft re-located from Brooklyn and holed up on a ranch in the Californian desert to get the ambiance for this retro sounding album. A bold, but worthwhile move. Having travelled extensively in America and Europe, they've masterfully pooled their wanderlust images, nailing them in the desolate environment and 115 degree heat. It's more than obvious greats like Jim Morrison, (Eisner's a vocal reincarnation of Morrison), and the Rolling Stones, Cream (even The Lovin' Spoonful come to mind), have been a massive influence. Somewhere in the mix is a nod to White Stripes, especially Jack White's bluesy escapades noted on Ride Easy. There's also the scattered and immature drum bashing of Meg White, highlighted on hippified My My My. Light electric strumming and military drumming precursors a blues swing for the shifting and often menacing Steady Roller, Doors-like. There's a cool swagger on offer for the laidback Queen Mary, influenced by 1930's blues, until it lunges into a whopping romp with cymbals and skins being pounded. Open with a slinky and mellow tone the delightful Ride Easy nods to late 60s psychedelia. With a thumping beat, subliminal riffs and rolling guitar licks, Try On Me is hook happy with catchy chorus and their most commercial effort, with Follow me Down right out of the Doors songbook, with Eisner's deep tone lilting towards Morrison once again. My Friend Bill has much the same quality, though the solo picks are more refined. The closer, Darkness and Light retains The Doors hangdog feel, and it perfectly captures (more than any other) the baron wilderness the holed -up in. Just like the start, they leave us with a sumptuous bluesy ballad Darkness And Light, with some deft and disciplined slide guitar honey.
A main feature of this wonderfully titled album is Eisner's deep and soulful baritone.
File under: Not original, but a top album.
