Lasers Lasers Birmingham - Warning (2019)

Some of the greatest moments of the album come from its title track. Simultaneously reminiscent of Waylon Jennings and Pink Floyd, you will find more sonic wizardry on “Warning” than most classic country inspired tracks. Owen offers a warning to the listener, “this is a warning the wildest of frontiers are already tamed.”

“After Party, After Life” keeps the party rolling long after the bars close with this indulgent and upbeat rocker and “Wild Animals” is as close to a rowdy drinking song as you will find in the LLB catalogue. This barnburner is danceable, relatable and utterly unsentimental when Owen asks, “When did acting dumb stop being so much fun?”

“Lead Me On” evokes 1990’s Lucinda Williams and features Sie Sie Benhoff on backing vocals that add an emotional punch to the chorus. Owen remains self-assured even at his most self-deprecating with “maybe I’m not as handsome as I used to be, wore out my welcome on vanity.” This track is washed in ethereal reverb, pedal steel and open space. Not even the vivid imagery could crowd the loneliness at the core of the song.

The album ends with “What a Shame”, a cautionary tale about a character that “could have been the greatest”. Owen’s lyrics are equally as psychedelic as the music landscape dominated by haunting pedal steel and warbling pianos. Owen howls on the chorus, “Oh what a shame, what a shame, a victim of our times and the times they do change, a collusion of the heavens and stars, a mis-spent youth singing in bars”.

On Warning, the band has infectious energy, the imagery is colorful without losing clarity and the characters are relatable. Owen carries on the legacy of hard living, left-of-center country music, again as he coined, “weird country”. He points out, “For every, ‘I didn’t like country music until I saw you play tonight,’ I get two people telling me, ‘that ain’t even country.’ I feel pretty happy with that.”