Lachlan Bryan & The Wildes
Black Coffee
Independent
3.5/5
It’s been four
years since Melbourne purveyors of serious alt.country The Wildes, released
their acclaimed debut. In the ensuing time, frontman Lachlan Bryan branched off
on his own, releasing the slightly more polished Shadow Of The Gun, and it seemed that the band itself had folded.
Not so, evidenced
by new release Black Coffee, an album
which while it isn’t as sweeping and textured as 2009’s Ballad Of A Young Married Man, is a study in evolution and
maturity, Bryan and The Wildes taking their rock ‘n’ roll influenced country
music to a new level.
Still stamped with
Bryan’s solid songwriting prowess, this one lumbers slowly (the slide twang of
‘Deathwish Country’), kicks it up a gear or two (the blues-infused ‘You, Me And
The Blues’), gets lighthearted (the bluegrassy title track) and slows right
down (‘Change In The Wind’), all while managing to avoid Tamworth, staying
instead within the realms of warm, real
country music. With a kick, because that’s what The Wildes do, to great effect.
Samuel J. Fell
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