"If money didn't matter, then I might tell you something new/ You can't tell people what they want to hear, if you also want to tell 'em the truth," sings The Hold Steady's front−man, Craig Finn, on the second track of the band's latest release, "Heaven is Whenever." The album is due for U.S. release on May 4 from Vagrant Records. In many ways, Finn has little new to tell his listeners; the songs follow Finn's usual narrative themes of booze, sex, drugs, crime, Catholic guilt and his eclectic record collection. Yet The Hold Steady still keeps the material fresh on this album by producing a classic rock sound that oscillates between exuberant and cinematic.
The Hold Steady formed in New York City in 2003 when vocalist and guitarist Craig Finn and lead guitarist Tad Kubler set out to create a classic rock revival band, recruiting bassist Galen Polivka, drummer Bobby Drake and eventually keyboardist Franz Nicolay along the way. The band released "Almost Killed Me" (2005), "Separation Sunday" (2005), "Boys and Girls in America" (2006) and "Stay Positive" (2008), garnering an ever−widening fanbase through its rousing live performances. On account of Finn's gruff vocals and poetic story−telling, backed by Kubler's classic rock riffs and Nicolay's driving piano, the group often drew comparisons to Bruce Springsteen.
But shortly before the recording began for "Heaven is Whenever," Nicolay left the group to pursue other projects, with the result that the newest release relies mostly on guitar. Indeed, it is a solo guitar that opens the album in the introduction of "The Sweet Part of the City," but not the usual over−driven, electric guitar crunch emblematic of Kubler's work. Instead, an acoustic guitar, played in the Delta blues slide tradition, paints a sunny, Southern soundscape. "We got bored so we started a band/ We'd like to play for you/ We'd like to pray for you," Finn sings to close this atypical, introductory track, effectively summing up the band's mission for the album.
In many respects, "Heaven is Whenever" harkens back to the band's debut, "Almost Killed Me," probably because the band returned to producer and engineer Dean Baltulonis, who worked with them on their first two albums. Many of the harder−rocking tracks, such as "Soft in the Center," "The Smidge," "Rock Problems" and "Our Whole Lives" have a pounding rock feel similar to The Hold Steady's early work, and Finn makes sure to drop plenty of phrases that lyrically reference the band's prior albums.
But the gruff Minnesotan has also written his lyrics from a more mature perspective — almost as though advising a younger generation of party−goers. "You gotta get yourself right, kid/ I'm gonna give you some advice/ You can't get every girl/ You'll get the ones you love the best," he sings on "Soft in the Center." Finn also takes a more critical stance on the wild hardcore shows that he attended in his younger days. On the dark, vaguely klezmer−sounding track, "Barely Breathing," he sings, "Showing up at shows like you care about the scene still/ Where were you when the blood spilled?/ They almost killed me/ It got pretty sketchy … The kids are all distracted/ No one wins at violent shows."
Sonically speaking, "Heaven is Whenever" offers a diverse, but more mature palette of musical textures than its immediate predecessor, "Stay Positive." While the last album pushed the envelope by including a harpsichord, theremin, vibraphone, banjo, mandolin and even a wacky talk−box guitar solo, on "Heaven" the band opts for more symphonic arrangements when going beyond the usual guitar, bass and drums backdrop.
Notably absent are Nicolay's skilled organ and piano parts, which elevated the band's style above a straight−forward rock set−up on "Separation Sunday," "Boys and Girls in America" and "Stay Positive." Guitarist Kubler has filled in some basic piano parts on this album, but they lack the complexity of the conservatory−trained Nicolay's compositions.
On the whole, The Hold Steady has nevertheless managed to produce a nuanced and layered rock album, with a style that is consistent with its previous efforts, but manages to mature beyond them. Thankfully, despite the band's growing success and the recent loss of its keyboardist, The Hold Steady lost sight of what's truly important — the music. As Finn sings on "We Can Get Together," "Heaven is whenever/ We can get together/ Sit down on your floor/ And listen to your records."
