Album Review: David Lowery – The Palace Guards

David Lowery - Palace Guards

Editor’s Note: DeadJournalist.com welcomes Jim Dedman is a contributor with this album review. He is a writer and lawyer living in Greenville, SC, who, self-admittedly, is trying to find a way to get back to the year 1994. I think you will agree, after reading this review, he’s a voice we hope is featured in many future projects on this site. We’re damn glad to have him. – Chuck Norton

Album Review: David Lowery – The Palace Guards
by Jim Dedman

There must be a special ennui reserved for those alternative rockers of the 1980s and early 1990s who now find themselves in their fifties and associated only with a long gone era of music. This, surely, is the inevitable fate of once grandiose college favorites like Ian McCulloch, Richard Butler, Evan Dando and Steve Wynn.

Perhaps, in an effort to cope, they enter into some sort of semi-retirement, hoping that the undulating waves of nostalgia will propel them back into the spotlight for even the briefest moment. Perilous always is the release of new material which, most likely, will be dismissed as inferior to the long ago singles that first made them famous. But, occasionally, these once proud frontmen produce a fine record that earns accolades based on its own merits without the aid of long ago engendered good will.

David Lowery, once of Camper Van Beethoven (CVB), once of Cracker, seems to have accomplished this feat with his new solo album, The Palace Guards, released this week on 429 Records. Just under 40 minutes, it’s a short record with nine songs, but the decision to keep it simple seems to pay appropriate dividends.

Listeners expecting “Low” or “Take the Skinheads Bowling” – two songs older than many undergraduates – will not find carbon copies on this effort. In fact, there’s a cohesive acoustic feeling to the record which strays into bluegrass and the sub-genres of alt-country now popular.

In sum, it works.

Unlike the dreary offerings of many modern folk rockers, Lowery offers up some surprisingly catchy tunes, including the title track and “Marigold.” In addition, there are some true gems, including the slow and mellow “Deep Oblivion” and the similarly pensive “Ah, You Left Me.” Occasionally, it even seems that he has been influenced by two of music’s most revered Jeffs, Mangum and Tweedy. Further, Lowery, known for his sense of humor, does not abandon it in this enterprise.

David Lowery – “The Palace Guards”

We may now listen to Cracker and CVB to remind us of how we felt when we first heard that music so long ago. Much has changed since those days. Lowery, like us all, has not been immune to those driving temporal forces, though he seems to have emerged with his talent, coupled with a maturity and sense of restraint not evident on past efforts.

Good for him.

Editor’s Note: Jim Dedman is a contributor to DeadJournalist.com and is also a writer and lawyer living in Greenville, SC. You can follow him on Twitter @jdedman4.