More Primitive

Given that most independent rock bands inspired by the blues go out of their way to play as hard, heavy, and dramatically as possible, as if the goal was to drag Savoy Brown into the 21st century, Lonesome Shack are refreshingly subtle -- the band's touch is light and dynamic, with a clear appreciation of the virtue of open spaces and low-key grooves rather than Blueshammer-style overstatement. More Primitive is the work of a band that clearly worships at the altar of Junior Kimbrough, complete with languid but insistent guitar patterns and minimal rhythms that become hypnotic as they repeat themselves over the course of four or five minutes. Ben Todd's guitar work is about mood, not fretboard pyrotechnics, and the purposeful drift of the ten tracks on More Primitive comes from Todd's picking, while bassist Luke Bergman and drummer Kristian Garrard thankfully also embrace a "less is more" aesthetic, laying out rhythms that are simple, measured, and unrelenting. This trio puts enough weight behind "Head Holes" and "Big Ditch" that they wind these songs into something that's both simple and truly absorbing, and More Primitive is an album that would sound great at 3 A.M., meshing with the mood of the middle of the night. ~ Mark Deming