The ideal rejoinder to sniffy accusations of indulging in nothing more than grunge-revivalism, Dead Confederate’s sophomore record ‘Sugar’ is stylistically all over the place, each song revealing a different side to the band’s sound. While the distortion and dark mystique of their debut ‘Wrecking Ball’ has been retained, this is a more comprehensive representation of what the Athens, Georgia five-piece can do, the pick of nineties alternative rock filtered through the dust and decay of the Southern States. Think Dinosaur Jr (whose frontman/driving force J Mascis appears on chirpy, spaced out first single ‘Giving It All Away’), mid nineties Billy Corgan, and, well, most of the angsty fuzz merchants from the decade of flannel shirts and generation Y, thrown into a blender with a hefty dose of tortured Americana and freewheeling psychedelia. In short, a great second step.
Where ‘Sugar’ spills over into no holds barred rock on the gritty, claustrophobic ‘Quiet Kid’ and brash ‘Mob Scene’ it’s easy to understand those comparisons to the fabled Seattle Sound, but it’s the unexpected delights found elsewhere that truly captivate us. Take closer ‘Shocked To Realise’ and early curveball ‘Run From The Gun’ as illustration, each impressively mature and nuanced, drenched in melancholy, and tightly controlled emotion. Even Dead Confederate’s most accessible tracks are somehow elusive, distant, at first listen, so naturally ‘Sugar’ is a grower, and far from immediately gratifying. It’s telling that the record is the product of two main songwriters, Brantley Senn (bass/vocals) and Hardy Morris (guitar/vocals) each coming up with half of the album, before taking their material to the rest of the band for development: the sounds and styles of these ten tracks may not be consistent, but the feel, the authorial voice, if you like, most certainly is. That’s helped in no small way by a production job from the semi-legendary John Agnello (The Hold Steady, Drive By Truckers, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr.), who ensures that the mixture of rawness and clarity found on tracks like ‘Goner’ , ‘The News Underneath’ and ‘The Rat’ from their debut album is retained.
For all its good points, ‘Sugar’ is likely to disappoint some of those who’ve been following the band from their first record. The open ended oddity has been reined in and we do miss it, though this does allow for a leaner, more focused record this time around. Perhaps a little of their raucous southern fire has dimmed... either way, there’s more than enough here to justify further excitement on our part. If they bring the tunefulness and sense of purpose that they’ve brought to the fore here to future releases (and that live show) while keeping their anarchic spontaneity alive, then we’ll continue to have our eyes on this lot for the foreseeable future.
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