Shooter Jennings and Heirophant, Black Ribbons

Here goes the first review of the new blog which will likely evolve into a radio show on Long Beach Radio in the near future. The album in question is "Black Ribbons" by Shooter Jennings' band Heirophant.

I first heard of this album through Canadian blues-rockers Ross Neilsen and The Sufferin' Bastards.  I gave them free reign for an hour of my morning radio show a few months back and they played a track or 2 from the album... I thought nothing of it and went on with my life.  Last week, I tracked the album down and started listening.... I haven't stopped since.

First a little background.  Shooter, as some might have guessed is the son of country music legend Waylon Jennings but this is no country album.  My not-so-original way of explaining the overall sound is "Pink Floyd meets the Allman Brothers". Southern Prog with a big dose of the occult and an even bigger dose of anti-establishment.  If you like novelty, the album owes some of it's charm to narration and some writing courtesy of best-selling author Stephen King, himself a confessed fan of Shooter's.

The album is, and please don't judge too harshly, a concept album. Set in the not-too-distant future, the album is presented as the last hour of the broadcast of a radio DJ before the government seizes control of the broadcast airwaves. Stephen King provides the DJ's voice and worked with shooter on the dialog.  Some of the songs play to the concept well, others are simply Rock and Roll for it's own sake.  Though I feel Rock and Roll is a good enough reason for most things.

The mood isn't all dark. There are a number of songs that could be considered as stand alone love songs, in fact the power of love is referred to as the answer to an oppressive police state.  "Fuck You, I'm Famous" has probably been remixed somewhere into a great dance tune.  While there are places where the Pink Floyd-ness borders on plagiarism that isn't a bad thing to me. Kind of like saying "She's hot but she looks too much like Kate Hudson"... not a great argument.

The end of the album and the fate of our fictional DJ are predictable but effective in completing the story and fitting the mood of the album.  This is one of those rare cases of a recent album that should be taken as a whole, in the dark, laying on the floor with the headphones on. 

I'd recommend Black Ribbons to fans of Pink Floyd and the Allman Brothers of course.   I also hear a few tunes that wouldn't sound too strange on a ZZ Top album. Fans of Astrology and Tarot will find references that will have them feeling at home. The Indie rock scene will hear some familiar 8 bit synth parts but likely be a little disappointed that the melodies aren't repetitive enough.

This album has the potential to enrage or inspire depending on the listener... Either way, that's what art is for and in a world where most of the music out there is "*processed bubblegum bullshit churned out by the overlords of doublespeak and meant to turn a grey world greyer" it's important to recognize something that isn't.  *from the album

Get it here

Thanks for reading,  Geoff