Artist: American Aquarium
Album: Burn.Flicker.Die.
Bitrate: 247kbps avg
Quality: EAC Secure Mode / LAME 3.98.4 / -V0 / 44.100Khz
Label: Blue Rose Records
Genre: Rock
Size: 85.80 megs
PlayTime: 0h 46min 01sec total
Rip Date: 2012-10-08
Store Date: 2012-10-05
Track List:
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01. Cape Fear River 3:28
02. St. Mary's 3:10
03. Lonely Ain't Easy 4:49
04. Abe Lincoln 3:45
05. Jacksonville 6:28
06. Harmless Sparks 4:03
07. Burn.Flicker.Die. 5:16
08. Casualties 4:36
09. Savannah Almost Killed Me 3:31
10. Northern Lights 3:36
11. Saturday Nights 3:19
Release Notes:
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"Burn.Flicker.Die." - that's exactly what American Aquarium want to avoid!
That's probably why they wrote this motto, in fact this warning, in big letters
on their new album. It is the title of their sixth release since 2006 and it
will be - according to the band's optimism, their fans' enthusiasm, and the
first ecstatic reviews - their breakthrough album! Burn.Flicker.Die. is destined
to be the catalyst for American Aquarium's success and the album that will
catapult them into the major leagues of Americana. It is also the culmination of
years of hard work and dogged persistence. After six years of 250 to 300 shows a
year, they pooled all their resources and started a Kickstarter campaign to
create this album full of passion and musicality. Blue Rose have had their eye
on the Raleigh, NC-based band for a while and have now signed them for European
distribution. That should help bring 50 to 250 fans to the gigs on their next
German tour as opposed to the 5 to 25 paying customers they played for a few
months ago - now, that would really be a success story!
If you're a band from Raleigh, North Carolina with a disposition towards
handmade songs, good musicianship, alt.country, indie rock and Americana you
can't escape comparisons with precursors like the Backsliders and Whiskeytown.
BJ (Bradley Justin) Barham was a disciple of both as a youth - no wonder the
Ryan Adams influence is pretty obvious on the first AA albums. It's not as if
the band's frontman, singer, songwriter and guitarist is in denial about it.
He'll gladly tell you how much he was also influenced by Bruce Springsteen,
knowing full well that he has found not only his own singing and songwriting
voice in recent years but also a group of friends that have helped develop
American Aquarium. And what a development that band has taken with
Burn.Flicker.Die.
BJ Barham (vocals, rhythm guitar) started American Aquarium in 2005 in Raleigh
with Ryan Johnson (electric lead guitar), Whit Wright (pedal steel), Bill Corbin
(bass) and Kevin McClain (drums) - still the current lineup! In the meantime,
keyboarders Zack Brown and/or Jay Shirley were additional band members. Their
debut Antique Heart was released in 2006, The Bible & The Bottle and the EP
Bones followed in 2008. A year later, the Chris Stamey-produced Dances For The
Lonely was the first album to make European music lovers perk their ears. Small
Town Hymns in 2010 was another improvement on all fronts with great songs like
'Hurricane', 'Reidsville', 'Rattlesnake' and 'Gone Long Gone' - all of them
staples of the live set.
Now, in the late summer of 2012, Burn.Flicker.Die. brings an ever-attractive mix
of American rock'n'roll with shifting focus on guitar rock, country rock,
heartland rock, southern rock and a consistently high-caliber of songwriting.
This time, Barham deals with a broader palette of topics: life on the road with
all its consequences, small town views of small town folks, people suffering
major losses in life but still hanging on to their dreams, boys starting a
family still longing for their long-lost love, the temptation to drown out a
generic life with drugs, pills and alcohol. There's a number of songs dealing
with addiction - 'Jacksonville', 'Harmless Sparks' and the 5-minute title track.
'Casualties' - possibly the best song Barham has written - deals with walking
upright in the music biz and following your dreams although it's highly doubtful
they'll ever come true. This might be the best example for Barham's talent to
confront darker themes with a positive attitude.
Burn.Flicker.Die was recorded in only ten days in January 2012 by engineer Jimmy
Nutt at Nutthouse Studios in Muscle Shoals. The sessions were produced by none
other than Jason Isbell, ex-Drive-By Trucker and now an established and
successful solo artist (also on Blue Rose). Isbell enjoys collaborating with
talented colleagues like Justin Townes Earle, Middle Brother and Todd Snider.
Working with American Aquarium was his first production job but it came about by
accident after a conversation in a Raleigh bar. The chemistry between band and
producer and the loose recording atmosphere is clearly audible. Isbell adds
piano, organ and guitars, sings background vocals and brought his fiancΘe Amanda
Shires in for vocals & fiddle. Caitlin Cary (ex-Whiskeytown, Tres Chicas), Jay
Shirley, Wes Lachot (from the dB's circle of friends) and Muscle Shoals veteran
Spooner Oldham also guest. The strings for "Northern Lights", a ballad
discussing the timeless topic one night vs the one true love, were arranged by
Chris Stamey.
Next to some complex country rock numbers like the opener, the partly
autobiographic 'Cape Fear River' and the epic 'Lonely Ain't Easy', there are
some wonderfully simple southern rockers like the only cover, Chip Robinson's
'Abe Lincoln' (Backsliders), 'St. Mary's' with its no-holds barred attitude,
'Savannah Almost Killed Me' with lovely pedal steel and album closer 'Saturday
Nights' with a strong Black Crowes-style boogie influence.