Blake Brown & the American Dust Choir - Show Me The Light (2024)

Ten songs of americana-tinged and occasionally anthemic pop-rock. Following the release of his 2022 EP, “Don’t Look Back”, Blake Brown moved to Austin from Nashville. There he was introduced to producer Chris ‘Frenchie’ Smith with whom he worked to create his new album “Show Me The Light” released on his own We Believers Music imprint. Between them Smith and Brown culled an initial batch of eighteen songs down to a core of ten which comprise the record being released.

The album was recorded at Bubble Studios in Austin with musical support from Smith (guitars), Tiffany Brown (keyboards/vocals), Jordan Espinoza (drums) and Jason Legler (bass). Brown himself takes the lead vocals and contributes guitars as well as writing all the songs.

The ten songs that make up “Show Me The Light” seem to have been tracked for vinyl i.e. two 18/19-minute sides rather than a 37-minute whole, a trend becoming more common as acts focus on vinyl releases.

The opening cut, ‘Runner’, starts in a languid style although pretty soon insistent bass/ drums rhythms come to the forefront. As the song develops the music builds in intensity. Unfortunately listening to it via Amazon Music, the vocal is somewhat buried in the mix which makes it difficult to discern Brown’s lyrics. This is a recurrent feature of the record. The next song ‘Turn On The Light’ is a faster tempo and has an interesting guitar figure running through. It’s pop rock in style and has some nice synth-generated strings.

The album’s third song, ‘White Rose’ sounded very familiar which can be put down to its calling up memories of Ryan Adams and the Cardinals. The song is a rocker with a big riff. ‘Old Habits’ returns to the poppier theme – the verses are softer while the choruses are ramped up with a louder vocal. Track 5 and, we can presume, side 1 closer is ‘Darkest Hollows’ whose lyric gives the album its title. The chorus “Pick me up, take me home, where that is nobody knows, where you go I will follow, deepest seas, darkest hollows, show me the light” fits with the aspirational thrust of the tune.

Side 2 opener ‘Lucky Ones’ starts off with a light rocky riff before dropping into a softer verse rolling into a descending chorus which reaches for an anthemic peak. The guitars play off one another in an extended outro. ‘Gone Too Soon’ is a slower tempo tune with a shimmering guitar running underpinning parts of the song. Tiffany Brown adds some nice harmony vocal.

Next up is ‘North Star’ which has another big chorus and references Neil Young in the lyric with its “don’t burn out” theme. The song features some more rocking guitar work.

The penultimate song, ‘These Days (Hard Luck)’ is framed by jangling guitars while the closing song ‘Surrender’ picks out many of the elements of the record – synthesised strings, harmonies and an anthemic chorus.

“Show Me The Light” is a nice enough collection of songs which may have a bit more impact in a live setting than they do on the record.