New (or revived) alt-styles come to the fore because they're
new (or rediscovered) ways of feeling good, or ways of feeling bad.The early eighties New Wave sound
tapped into the sadness of Reagan/Thatcher-era, while grunge captured the down
spirits of Generation X.At the
start of this century/millennium, alt-country began to boom, as a new,
authentic way to represent melancholy.It's since largely gone on to straddle into the mainstream (and even
actually country music), and the unhappy kids are now looking towards chillwave
or post-dubstep or whatever.But
Brooklyn's Courtesy Tier bring an alt-country crush of feelings on The
Resolution.
Loss pervades The Resolution, and the closest it comes to ‘upbeat’ is the gallop away from what was
lost in "Rescue".On pieces like
"Rescue", the more expansive opener "Standing Near", resigned "Alright Mama",
slow-to-big builds "Calling Out" and "Home", or the evocative & effective
"Just Like You", you can feel the wrenching in singer Omer Liebovitz's voice,
another strain on the well-worn heart.It's actually somewhat reminiscent of Kings of Leon - when they were
great (roughly Because of the Times
era - QRO review), before they got quite so huge.
Courtesy Tier do sometimes dip into a grunge-plead on The
Resolution, and the record is largely worse
for it on numbers like "Preaches", the harder moments of the otherwise stripped
"Morning Run", or the slow grind guitar-rock "Hey Bee".The Tier is actually just a
guitar-and-drums two-piece, and while they don't sound like it, might need a
Lou Barlow (QRO album review) before going into Dinosaur Jr. (QRO
live review) terrain.
Brooklyn & British kids are already leaving the
alt-country behind to the Mumfords (QRO live review) of the world, swinging back towards electronica in
the never-ending traditional vs. technological push-pull in music.But the Courtesy Tier are proving why
alt-country speaks to us in these tough times.
Click here for photos of Courtesy Tier at CMJ 2011 in New York, NY in the QRO Concert Photo Gallery
New (or revived) alt-styles come to the fore because they're
new (or rediscovered) ways of feeling good, or ways of feeling bad.
Fueled with Voodoo Doughnuts, Alcoholic Faith Mission
delivered to a rockin' crowd in Portland.
Those lucky enough to
enter the House of Blues Boston took a spacey journey
that felt like one long dream starting with opening act I Break Horses.
The student-filled O2 Academy in Manchester started heaving
forward the instant the visual art showed "The Cribs" on the backdrop.
