Moo Moo 2013
The Pace
San Fran folk-rock classicists drill down the memory with an upbeat full-blown full-lengther.
One needs company in order to kick up dust or cut the rug, and since their 2009’s debut, “The Blue Orange”, the duo of college pals Ben Lang and Dan Paggi expanded the group’s ranks into a quintet that reach out to stand and deliver. To feed off their energy one doesn’t need to wait for the coup de grace of “Long Arm Of the Law” which finishes this ten-tracker off: its titular opener equally unhurriedly sneaks into the listener soul as the song’s acoustic strum gets electrified and fleshed out with organ and vocal harmonies, before the effervescent surges of sound in “Manifest Destiny” come on like a modern Americana re-tooling of the ’60s garage rock.
While the ensemble’s Bay Area provenance is worn on the sweet sleeve of the brass-splashed “Critically Cool”, there’s a rural glimmer to “The Winding Rivers of Northern California”, although it’s “The Umbrella Song” that pitches in with a true country roll. And when harmonica flows into the “Ain’t On Our Way” sexy blues, there’s no way back from this pleasant mix of influences, the 7-minute “Hella” giving a twangy, almost orchestral respite. Memorable!
****1/4
