Otis 2024
One decade into their existence, Kentucky collective crank up the volume to kick out the kinks of heartbreak.
Last Fool In The Line
Hurry ain’t never been part of this band’s modus operandi. While it didn’t took the quartet a lotta time to follow up their 2014’s debut “Tough Times” which paid homage to obscure Chicago bluesman John Brim with “Eyes Of The Sun” which widen their stylistic swath, seven years later the combo’s audience still wait for another record from the foursome. Looks like the group’s third album may soon loom on the horizon, though, ’cause here’s a fresh cut on offer that should whet appetite for many a Southern rock lovers – a hot, fire ‘n’ ire breathing number about feelings gone wrong, so instead of the “evil or divine” philosophy or Ronnie James Dio connection on display, there’s a whiff of “Gimme Three Steps” and a ghost of another Ronnie, Van Zant, lurking ’round the corner. Righteously swampy, such pieces must be savored.
Laid down live, “Last Fool In The Line” gets maximum momentum from a mid-tempo shuffle that Boone Froggett and Alex Wells’ guitars – the former flicking licks under his own effects-stricken voice and the latter applying molasses-esque sluggishness to melodic flow – spread over the gutsy groove with which John Seeley’s bass and Dale Myers’ drums bolster the song’s swagger. It’s a cinematically tense, deliberately hilarious – not for nothing the single bears the subtitle of “a classic story of one man’s bad luck” and sports a cover artwork suggesting film noir – and absolutely entertaining track. Tapping into an eternal, timeless vein of turning a spurned lover’s hurt into an alluring tune, it transforms pain and panache into an adventure of sorts and cracks open the gateway to the band’s forthcoming full-length platter in style.
*****
