Southern indie-rock just doesn’t get the respect it deserves.  There are a slew of great bands from down south, but mostly, people are surprised that the acts are from there (think about it: do you really associate R.E.M. – QRO album review – with Georgia?…).  There are a few exceptions, like The Kings of Leon (QRO album review), but there should be more – enough so that they aren’t ‘exceptions’, but the rule.  One of those Confederate bands that deserve the attention is Tennessee’s The Features, who’ve finally had to put their sophomore full-length, Some Kind of Salvation, out themselves – a year after releasing it digitally & on vinyl, and as a follow-up to the major label debut Exhibit A back in 2004.  But Salvation was worth the wait.

After the high little ditty intro “Whatever Gets You By”, Some Kind of Salvation hits hard with “The Drawing Board”, and really never slips up.  The Features have a catchy twang all their own, which they can do with some fun stomp & horns.  There’s also their pressing procession, bringing some big, fun indie-blues/rock to such tracks as “Foundation’s Cracked”, “The Temporary Blues”, “Wooden Heart”, “Still Lost” and “Lions”.  The good times are neither indulgent nor simplistic, but just strong.

There is variety on Salvation, but it’s generally at its best when still in the ballpark, like in the harder “GMF”, brighter ‘reach for the sky’ “Off Track”, or anthem with harmonies closer “All I Ask”.  The touch of haunt to the stomp of “Drawing Board” is great, but the quieter, more strictly haunting “Baby’s Hammer” just isn’t what The Features do best.  The same can be said for the kind of indietronic “Concrete” – not bad, but when The Features can do something so well, so of their own, that’s what you’re looking for.

The Features have opened for Kings of Leon (QRO photos of Kings of Leon, when The Features opened), and hail from a Greco-Southern town all their own (Sparta, TN to R.E.M.’s Athens, GA).  Hopefully Some Kind of Salvation will see the band up at those heights.

MP3 Stream: "Lions"