The Brought Low - Third Record (2010)

Brooklyn hard rockers the Brought Low aren't ones to rush things -- releasing but three albums over a ten-year career makes that obvious -- but they always seem to have something interesting to say when they open up their mouths, or rather tune up, plug in, and crank out their latest grooves. Released in 2010, the plainly named Third Record is no exception and its songs, by the same token, are striking models of efficiency: pure, straightforward, compact, but clearly painstakingly constructed to sound that way. More often than not on this occasion, Benjamin Howard Smith's soulful drawl and fluid guitar escort bassist Robert Russell and drummer Nick Heller way down past the Mason-Dixon Line, via Southern-flavored numbers redolent of Lynyrd and Skynyrd! For proof, just check out driving rockers like "Old Century" and "The Kelly Rose," the swampy acoustics of "A Thousand Miles Away," the heavy, heavy blues of "Blow Out Your Candles" (featuring harp from Five Horse Johnson's Eric Oblander), and the woeful lament of "Last Man Alive." But the Brought Low aren't stuck on the Southern connection entirely, and so they can also be found negotiating cross-town traffic with the stutter-riffed "Matthew's Grave," Sunday driving with the organ-infused instrumental "Slow Your Roll," or simply flooring it toward the border with "Everybody Loves a Whore." In sum, Third Record writes another intriguing, and often unpredictable, chapter in the trio's career, making it obvious why fans continue to welcome the Brought Low back, no matter how long they stay away.~Eduardo Rivadavia