Released: 3/4/2016
4/7 starts
Duo Stewart Bronagh and Joshua Jaeger, forming the American alternative rock group Lionlimb, released their debut album Shoo on March 4. From Nashville, Lionlimb has a sound comparable to Phoenix. The group sounds timeless, with some tracks feeling straight of the seventies, with light jam riffs and easy to listen to melodies, and other tracks have a sound from a jazz club during the ninety’s. Although the album gets a bit mild at times, overall the sound is enjoyable: music you listen to on your porch on a breezy summer day.
While listening, I found similarities between Lionlimb and other singer-songwriters such as Ben Folds or Elliott Smith. The album is unique in its own way though, not just being categorized as “light rock,” but also a bit of soul, pop and funk. The use of saxophone, piano and a variety of horns keeps the album upbeat and slightly on the jazzier side of things.
As much as some tracks were jazzy, others were psychedelic. “Turnstile,” is a 70s-style song, and one of the albums better tracks. Contrasting, the song “Domino,” perhaps the best song from the album, is boomingly upbeat and almost pop-rock in nature, with Jaeger going all out on the drums. Lastly the track “Lemonade” stood out, with winding guitar and just enough horn to possibly be considered a jazz or soul track.
Overall, I found myself listening to this album while driving down the coast of Oregon, and it completely fit that atmosphere. It was easy listening, a great start to Lionlimb as artists, and hopefully we will be hearing more from them in the coming future.