There are certain bands that you're sure are going to break
out, and then there are certain bands that you can't understand why they haven't
broken out, like The Features.Their Tennessee roots in the Appalachian South appeals across the
country, red state & blue.They've got the backing of one of the biggest acts out there today, The
Kings of Leon (QRO album review),
who've brought The Features with them on tour (QRO photos when The
Features opened), and whose own label
Serpents & Snakes put out both 2009's Some Kind of Salvation
(QRO review) and the band's new Wilderness.And they've got a great mix of up-tempo
southern alt-rock with catch and energy.Wilderness is best when The
Features stick to the Salvation script,
but what more do The Features have to do, anyway?
Wilderness has some
ready-made singles in "Kids" and "Golden Comb", two uprisings of southern
indie-rock ‘n' roll that'll win anyone over.Admittedly, those are the best of Wilderness, but The Features are able to leaven in a bit of
Southern Gothic (opener "Content"), more removed parts ("Another One"),
stop-start ("Big Mama Gonna Whip Us Good"), or bigger rock ("Love Is..."), even
if the greater the stretch, less the results, like the organ keys of "Rambo"
and slower "Rambo".
Wilderness also isn't
quite the original breath of fresh air that was Salvation, or whenever your first heard The Features.But there's a wider world that still
hasn't heard The Features, and why not?
Click here for photos of The Features at SXSW 2012 in Austin, TX in the QRO Concert Photo Gallery
There are certain bands that you're sure are going to break
out, and then there are certain bands that you can't understand why they haven't
broken out, like The Features.
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.
