State Radio will not write its audience a love song. With that little disclaimer out of the way, let it be known that the power trio composed of Chad Stokes Urmston (formerly of Dispatch) on guitar and vocals, Chuck Fay on bass and vocals, and Mike "Mad Dog" Najarian on drums has brought forth a subtle, yet scathing, third full-length studio album.
Weighing in at a hefty 13 diverse tracks, "Year of the Crow" will not immediately grab a listener unfamiliar with the band's distinctive blend of punk, reggae and roots rock. But give the album just one or two more listens and suddenly the expert musicianship, stripped-down rock arrangements and Urmston's savagely blunt socio-political musings will gel together irresistibly.
In 2002, after the break-up of the independent phenomenon Dispatch, Urmston started writing and recording demos for a side-project called Flag of the Shiners, which soon evolved into State Radio as Urmston solidified the lineup with bassist Fay.
After a couple of drummers, the band stuck with Najarian, whose heavier style blended with Urmston's reggae-influenced guitar work to pull the band more securely into their current reggae-rock style. A 2005 EP, "Peace Between Nations," followed in 2006 by "Us Against the Crown," State Radio's first full-length album, established the group as more than just a Dispatch side project. With "Year of the Crow," however, the band explores some new territory.
This album showcases the growth of the individual multi-instrumentalists, as well as a willingness in the band as a whole to try out some new sounds without straying too far from its distinctive style. The opening track, "Guantánamo," with its complicated, shifting time signatures and angular guitar riffs, may miss the mark melodically, but adequately conveys the message of protest implied by the song's name.
Not just the obligatory acoustic song on the album, "The Story of Benjamin Darling, Part 1" features a compelling bass, organ and percussion back-up, where previously just Urmston's guitar would have sufficed. Indeed, the guitar is muffled on this track to such an extent that it blends seamlessly into the other instruments, allowing the vocals to take the spotlight over the folky, instrumental backdrop.
Notably featured on this album are Fay's work on piano and organ and Urmston's trombone arrangements. The organ parts help to flesh out the band's sound and provide more of a musical diversity on songs such as "Omar Bay" and "Sudan," while the trombone lines lend a ska feel to "Barn Storming" and "Fall of the American Empire." These additions, as well as the use of cello on "Fight No More," save the album from the potential monotony of non-stop, guitar-bass-drums rock songs.
And of course, fans of the band's prior work will be relieved to find plenty of loud, fast rock on this new album. Tracks such as "CIA," "Gang of Thieves" and "Rash of Robberies" demonstrate State Radio's knack for composing and performing highly coordinated yet frenetically energetic songs. Their minimalist "power trio" setup has granted the band the ability to replicate such synchronized studio recordings in a live setting.
Furthermore, the band's political appeal remains, for the most part, unmatched in today's music scene. Urmston's writing for State Radio may not have risen to the level of his prior songs, such as Dispatch's "The General," in terms of instant appeal, but by no means has the 32-year-old singer-songwriter lost his political inspiration.
"Year of the Crow" plays almost like an audio protest manifesto, featuring songs about torture and detention at Guantanamo Bay, the imprisonment of the West Memphis 3, genocide in Darfur, CIA corruption, the war in Iraq, military conscription in rural areas and the injustices of Native American reservations.
But despite such heavy subject matter, "Year of the Crow" comes off as anything but depressing. Rather, with such upbeat rhythms and creative melodies, the songs convey a truly galvanizing energy. "Fall of the American Empire" gives listeners a pleasant and upbeat vision of a final, decisive end to all the hopeless messes detailed in the previous 12 tracks.
After using the whimsical imagery of a party with the Mad Hatter and Quinn the Eskimo to lend light-heartedness to the number, Urmston finally reflects on his and State Radio's position: "But me, I'm just working a sound bite/ Just rolling my smokes tight/ You know, they said it was all right, all right."
