Timothy Showalter became Strand of Oaks during a dark portion of his life, after the end of a marriage and fire engulfing his house. But with 2014’s HEAL, he really did heal, and gained serious attention with the acclaimed record. Now comes Hard Love, the follow-up that lives up to the alt-country/rock singer/songwriter.
There is a strong emotional core to Hard Love, found particularly on the opening title track and the following radio-friendly “Radio Kids”. The latter is like a great emotional Kings of Leon song, jut the right amount of emotion to go with the classic/country alt-rock that is so hard to get right. But there is also some fun on Hard, like the rock & rollick of “Rest of It”, guitar solo included. There’s even stripped loss (“Cry”), and psych-rock journey with the appropriately titled closer, “Taking Acid and Talking To My Brother”.
As Strand of Oaks, Timothy Showalter could have been a one-trick pony, but HEAL, while his second record with indie imprint Dead Oceans, was his fourth overall. Hard Love shows all the hard work paying off.
