SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: CHARLIE KAPLAN – COUNTRY LIFE IN AMERICA

CHARLIE KAPLAN
COUNTRY LIFE IN AMERICA
INDEPENDENT

Don’t let the title of the latest Charlie Kaplan album fool you – Country Life in America. Well, ok, maybe just a little bit.

You see, don’t expect that twangy Nashville sound with dominating pedal steel guitar sound. That country sound is there as some sort of a liner note, that is if you consider The Grateful Dead or Elvis Costello as country or having a good melody.

This New York singer songwriter surely likes a good melody line, but he likes his power pop, the left-field side of it (R. Stevie Moore style), powerful guitars as just an afterthought, and that indie rock sound (think Yo La Tengo without feedback or Big Star).

Kaplan is all unabashed pop rock of the quality kind and this is the country life in America he has in mind. We should all be for it.

Artist Links