Brian Fallon
Painkillers
(Island Records)
There are some artists that are easily identifiable even to the most casual of fans. Even if you don’t know more than a single AC/DC song, it’s likely that you could recognize them over the supermarket speaker system. Brian Fallon is one of those artists, with a voice that has very little range and sounds similar despite the band that is backing him. The similarities in his lyrical content add to the commonality, which is one of the greatest critiques of his work: predictability.
Those critics will be validated with his solo album. While there are minimal forays into experimentation, Painkillers is largely a continuation of Fallon’s work, even though the rest of The Gaslight Anthem guys aren’t present. Constant themes of cars and women thread throughout the album and Fallon’s awkward obsession with 80s era Springsteen is evident as usual. Despite these challenges, Fallon somehow manages to make Painkillers an engaging album. Perhaps it is the fact that Get Hurt forced fans to realize that the band were a thoroughly mainstream band at heart, their punk-ish roots simply the result of lack of production funds, not intent. At this point, Fallon has more in common with Matchbox 20 than The Clash or even Springsteen. If you can get past that realization, Painkillers is a decent radio friendly rock album with a lot of 90s influence.
On “Steve McQueen,” Fallon wallows in his retro fascination, spinning a sombre love song that excels in its utter simplicity. The lack of depth comes across as charming, the lyrics touching on nostalgia and bringing to mind high school romance and corny poetry written during emotional highs. On “Nobody Wins,” he inflects the song with pop harmonies, again drawing on the 90s radio friendly sound. It is a charming song that is surprisingly fun, despite the uninspired lyrics. The standout track on the album is “Long Drives,” which bounces between The Killers’ anthemic rock and The Eagles’ countrified harmonies. It is unexpected and works well.
Many of the songs don’t fare so well. “Rosemary” is a blatant attempt to reproduce Springsteen’s arena rock sound. It falls flat because in reality, those songs are the weakest in the Boss’ expansive discography and an odd choice to emulate. This formula is also used on “A Wonderful Life,” which sounds like a reject from Get Hurt.
While the album has its fair share of interesting tracks, it seems like a strange decision to release an album under his own name and stick so stubbornly to the well-known formula that has defined The Gaslight Anthem in their mediocre post-The ’59 Sound era. At least The Horrible Crowes pushed the darker elements of Fallon’s sound. Those expecting a drastic change in sound will be terribly disappointed. Those who go out of their way to buy AC/DC albums despite the lack of sonic evolution may be interested in this album. (Dustin Blumhagen)
Purchase Painkillers on iTunes.
