By John Hefernan.
Formerly known as The Grim Brothers, the Pale Ailments are a country rockin' duo from New South Wales. They're powerful, intense, melodic and have attitude. If you're after a memorable melding of country and rock'n'roll then check this out.
Let me come straight out and admit it – I love Pale Ailments, every single track! It’s an album you can’t help liking at, so easy to listen to. But then it sneaks up on you, and pretty soon you’re hooked. I’ve listened to it many times now, and I’m always left with those special little somethings that good albums deliver – a thought that pulls you up, a smile that leaps out of nowhere, lyrics that linger.
I can’t really pin-point the music style, but then that’s actually part of the album’s appeal. There’s certainly Country twang in the mix, but also dashes of Rock, R&B, even a hint of surf in the opening bars of the first song (Get out of My Lane), and an almost indefinable Chill factor in the second last song (Push) that carries over in a strange way to the next track (Bottle Time), with its haunting guitar work and spot-on social comment.
At one level this is an album for driving and foot-tapping and singing along. But it is also one for easing back in front of a fire and simply absorbing. There’s social comment speckled through it – especially in tracks like The Limit, Bottle Time, Push, and Shallow Grave – but never over-the top obvious, and often delivered through infectious low-key humour.
I’ve decided that Pale Ailments is about Life (not just country life) in a broad eclectic way that doesn’t really hit you until you’ve listened to it a few times. I recommend you do just that. You won’t regret it.
Website: paleailments.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/PaleAilments
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