Music Review // Langhorne Slim "The Dreamin' Kind"

 https://langhorne-slim.bandcamp.com/album/the-dreamin-kind

When you begin an album with a song titled "Rock N Roll", it should set the tone for that album.  Big, fuzzy guitars come through with the vocals ala Neil Young and this new album by Langhorne Slim begins with that feelng of rock n roll.  The second song might be called "Dream Come True", but it does say "You and me baby / We are the dreamin' kind".  The song goes on in the chorus to say "To live a dream it can be hard to do / But without a dream you can't have a dream come true".  This feels important because lately I've just felt so down, like if I had the money and could do anything or what would my dream be and I don't feel like I've lost my will to live so much as I've lost that dream.  

Big strings are in this second song, like violins and such by the end, but it's also that first foot stomping sound which has a banjo as well.   The distorted guitar riff leads the way into an almost blues type of sound mixed with The White Stripes on "Loyalty".   Before the song "On Fire" there is a message from Grandma that says if she felt any better she'd get up and dance.   This feels like the right time to say that because "On Fire" has a steady enough rhythm that one should get up and dance along with it, if they can.  

"Stealin' Time" has this slower, ballad feel which is somewhere between Two Gallants and Buddy Holly.   This takes us into an Old Western type of song, which makes me think of gunslingers, and it's about a "Rickety Ol' Bridge" between Heaven and Hell.   This goes into that fire-based guitar rock on "Strange Companion", which has keys that can once again make this feel like the blues.   A little bit more twang on "Possessive" and big strings come out on "Lord".  "Haunted Man" brings back those Neil Young vibes while "Dance On Thru" has a bigger, more grand type of ballad feel to it.

As this album ends with a bang on "Engine 99" which just seems to showcase the different types of sounds throughout.  Langhorne Slim fills this void that was left in music when the radio stopped playing rock music as much as they used to pre-2000.   The closest thing to this on the radio is a band like Of Monsters and Men, but that really says a lot about how far displaced the radio seems to be currently from rocking good music.  "The Dreamin' Kind" is an album that you will love when you first hear it and then with each follow up listen you will fall in love with it.