Review: Young James Long ‘Orogeny’
Preston Wright Long III‘s musical career stretches back to the late ‘80s/early ‘90s when he was part of industrial crew Wig. From there he formed Mule with two ex-Laughing Hyenas members before embarking on a solo career as Reelfoot, PW Long and Young James Long respectively. Orogeny marks Young James Long‘s full-length debut and the long-awaited follow-up to 2007’s You Ain’t Know The Man EP
The line-up now, as it was on the EP is PW Long (guitar/vocals), Kirkland James (guitar/bass/organ) and Taylor Young (drums/percussion) and with a mammoth seventeen tracks on the album, one can only assume PW is making up for lost time. Is it worth the wait? Let’s find out…
Monominee demonstrates that Long‘s distinctive gravelly vocals appear unmarred by the passage of time while the music is of the slow burning blues kind. An ideal start that has you on thorns waiting what comes next. Blood On The Hood, like a good majority of the tracks on Orogeny, falls under the two minute mark and is laden with attitude and a hook that is positively infectious. Its mix of explosive blues and noise-rock mining a similar territory to former contemporaries such as Surgery and The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.
Indie Girl has a ballad quality and one that is infused with a wistful melancholy. This typifies PW Long‘s songwriting, he’s either making you shake your ass or making you cry, sublime. Bornou Man was one of the first songs previewed from Orogeny and I can see why. Both the title and music recall the swamp rock of Creedence Clearwater Revival as well as the Minutemen when that band went for a more straight-ahead rock approach on their final hurrah 3-Way Tie (For Last).
Long’s distinctive gravelly vocals appear unmarred by the passage of time while the music is of the slow burning blues kind…
Immortal Bedevilled is a really slow, low-key number that allows you a bit of respite before Kukawa hits you with its psychedelic charm. As a long-term listener, it was a pleasantly surprising stylistic shift that I was not expecting. In There is an intimate piece that features solely Long and an acoustic guitar and I was reminded of Paul Westerberg’s (The Replacements) Grandpaboy alter-ego that allowed that artist a more stripped down no-nonsense approach. I employ the term semi-instrumental for Keroseno as there are no discernible words, only vocal moans that taken in combination with the discordant sounds resemble a noise-rock jam.
Leave is a wonderfully woozy beast of a track that feels languid and gloriously sloppy while Ruby Red, at a mere one minute long, is the album’s shortest track and a fun instrumental that, at times, recalls a looser Fugazi. Crackalee takes us back into traditional PW Long territory with its super fun country/southern rock stylings and sprechgesang-esque vocals that would go down a storm in bars across the Southern US. St James Armory is pure Captain Beefheartian goodness while Greek Fire with its nods of the head to desert rock and extra slinky Zeppelin grooves works spectacularly.
Aerobella may appeal to those with an inclination for the James Gang, the guitar work reminding one of the great Joe Walsh and Shake has a tasty Rolling Stones meets the aforementioned Surgery vibe. Whenever Motörhead dabbled in bluesy rock ‘n’ roll’, Sexiatric may have been the kind of thing that would have resulted and finally Her winds down the album on a mournful Lynyrd Skynyrd note that feels entirely appropriate.
There’s a lot to get through on Orogeny but at no time did it drag or feel laboured. On the whole, it’s apparent that the extended break from music has done Long the world of good. A triumphant return.
Label: Wrong Speed Records | Learning Curve Records
Band Links: Official | Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram
Scribed by: Reza Mills
