Bloom

Personnel: Casey McPherson (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano, synthesizer); Zak Loy (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, resonator guitar, baritone guitar, mandolin); Tabber Millard (mandolin, drums, percussion, background vocals).
Audio Mixer: Aaron Johnson .
Recording information: Lewis Park Studios; Matchbox Studios.
Illustrator: Tabber Millard.
The second outing from Austin, Texas-based heartland rockers Alpha Rev is also their Kirtland Records debut. The ten-track Bloom starts out on a tear with the lush and expansive "Lexington," the first of a few cuts, including "Highways" and "Sing Loud," that sound like they accidently fell off of the Killers' Sam's Town on the way to the pressing plant. Bursting with big, propulsive choruses, soulful nods to Springsteen, Crooked Fingers, and Summerteeth-era Wilco, and measured, contemplative moments that still manage to convey the vastness of the West, Alpha Rev's soulful tales of love won and lost can be a tad obvious and overbearing at times, but so can matters of the heart. ~ James Christopher Monger