Midnight Salvage Co. - What You Hope For
by Kevin Wierzbicki
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Midnight Salvage Co. kicks off What You Hope For with "Rock & Roll Baby," a blue collar rocker that at once brings to mind the work of Tom Petty and to a lesser degree Dire Straits. "Every Girl" finds the Tacoma-based quintet turning to a Jersey Shore sound, a little like early Springsteen where Brason Alexander's wise-man-on-the-streets singing style begs for comparison to The Boss. "Los Angeles" on the other hand sounds uncannily like the Counting Crows and Alexander could probably fill in for Adam Duritz if the need arose. About half way through the album though the listener gets comfortable with the band's sound as being their own, just in time to rock out to the outstanding "Nobody Told You," dig Alexander's drawling vocals and the fuzzed-out guitars of "New Dress" and mellow out a bit to perhaps the most emotional piece on the record, the sadness-evoking "21st Street" where violin is used to enhance the song's sense of loss. These are not happy-happy songs; rather they are songs about the slightly dark side of everyday life where Alexander sings like he's resigned to the fact that this is reality but he's not beaten, surely there's a little joy around the corner. There's plenty of room to empathize here if you want to; otherwise just crank it up. Either way this album delivers on its title.
Midnight Salvage Co. - What You Hope For
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