Our Lady of the Highway...

There are certain local bands that I seem to champion. It's not that I feel a particular loyalty to my "scene", it's because I honestly believe that these bands are making music of immense quality and deserve recognition. At the head of this list of bands are Enablers, whose remarkable Output Negative Space is one of my favorites of 2006, and the increasingly prolific Our Lady of the Highway. For those of you that read Bars & Guitars regularly you've already heard me rave about About Leaving and the sophomore follow up Beauty Won't Save Us This Year. 2006 finds OLOTH getting ready to head to the East Coast for some high profile gigs in New York and Philadelphia to support their most recent release Kill You With Numbers. The new record shows a clear development of the band's sound as they expand their sonic palette further with keyboards, electronics, and atmospheric effects. But at their heart these songs remain distilled essences of Dominic East's heart. As always the lyric content is decidedly broken. Broken in the sense of the heart, damaged in the sense of how we remain after the tears have fallen. East's lyrics are served well by the band's expanded sound, though there always remains the suspicion that ultimately these songs beg for just his voice and guitar. The nice thing is the way the band (it's core of East and guitarist Andy Gerhan now together for over 10 years) is so effortlessly complimentary to East's voice and words and vice versa. While this is probably much more of an "indie" rock record than their past efforts, the thread of alt-country remains in the touches of violin, harmonica, and the gentle acoustic numbers. In listening to Kill You With Numbers I've found that I'm hearing the sound of a band hitting its stride. After defining themselves with the gentle heartbroken melancholy of About Leaving, then over reaching a tad in trying to break the curse of the sophomore record with Beauty Won't Save Us This Year, Our Lady of the Highway has expertly crafted an album that lands squarely in between those records. Kill You With Numbers is a mature, heartfelt set of songs that comfortably rock 'n weep. Very recommended.

1 song from Kill You With Numbers:

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Check out the website for an intriguing subscription plan the band is offering.