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Buffalo Killers

Dig. Sow. Love. Grow.

Written by: BV on 11/04/2013 14:08:52

Buffalo Killers are back with their fourth album and have been so since August 2012, so I must excuse my tardiness for not noticing until a few days ago. For those of you that don’t know the band, the power trio from Cincinatti, Ohio is yet another of those bands that have influences firmly rooted in the swingin’ boogie-rock of the mid- sixties, the fuzzy psychedelia of the late sixties and the pure love for riffing of the seventies. So what makes them so different from the vast majority of all the other bands riding the retro-wave as of recent? Not much really, as they tend to stick to what they do best – writing catchy songs reminiscent of an era where music, as an ‘art-form’, was a tad more down-to-earth and didn’t really need more than three dudes strumming and bashing away on their instruments for hours on end, until something cool-sounding turned up. Nonetheless, there are quite a few interesting moments on their recent album “Dig. Sow. Love. Grow.” For a retro-fanatic such as myself, so let’s get on to the actual review.

The first track of the album “Get It” is a boogie-rock track, in the sense that its enthralling, yet simplistic form entices the listener to sit down, or stand up for that matter, and just move along with it. Not quite dancing, not yet sitting still but just grooving. The tracks mildly overdriven guitar, the simplistic piano parts, and the utterly swinging rhythm section maintains a sound that is quite reminiscent of Cream as well as Mountain. The guitar solo on the track also tips its hat off in that direction, with the bluesy and minimalistic features comprising a neat and memorable guitar solo.

The album then enters the ballad-sounding “Hey Girl”, a somewhat dreamier track than one would expect on a release like this – but hey, all bands make love-themed songs at some point. The vocals are really cool on this track as the melody is easily memorable and actually has me singing along from the first chorus – instant hit-material, had this been one of the previously mentioned decades, rather than the year 2013.

The low-key ballad theme goes on for quite some time on the album, culminating with the track “Farewell”. “Farewell” is a minimalistic track with sparse focus on instrumentation but with an added focus on some really beautiful vocal harmonies. You may call me a sucker, but well-functioning vocal-harmonies will always have a special place in my heart and Buffalo Killers are, apparently, three top-notch dudes when it comes to that.

Album closer “Moon Daisy” is a psychedelic piece with a focus on jangling, yet overdriven guitar chords, a repetitive but mesmerizing bass line and just enough focus on the drumming to maintain the tightness of an otherwise ‘floating’ song. The lyrics are, yet again, focused on the theme of female companionship and trippy day-dreaming as can be heard in the lyric “I can’t see rain //my eyes don’t die a day // so run with me, my girl // run with me, my girl”. The simplicity of the lyrics is another key-point of the albums general catchiness, as Buffalo Killers don’t really sound as pretentious as many, and I do mean many other psychedelia infused bands tend to do. With the simplicity of the power-trio format, the down to earth psychedelic lyrics and the beautifully sounding vocal harmonies, I can’t see why this album wouldn’t be to my liking. It’s great and it deserves quite a few more spins on my turntable. Sounds like I’ve got an evening planned.

Download: Hey Girl, Get It, Moon Daisy, Mysun
For The Fans Of: Mountain, Siena Root, The Black Crowes
Listen: facebook.com

Release Date 07.08.2012
Alive Natural Sound